- Tucker Carlson questioned the motives of the jurors convicted by Derek Chauvin on Tuesday.
- He suggested that their verdict might have been intended to prevent riots that some feared as a result of an acquittal.
- “Can we trust the way this decision was made?” he asked.
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Following the Derek Chauvin murder trial, Tucker Carlson’s response Tuesday night was to question the jury’s motivation in finding the guilty verdict.
A few hours earlier, a jury of five men and seven women had handed down a unanimous conviction on all three charges against Chauvin in the death of George Floyd.
Chavin was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. The verdict came about a year after footage of white police officer Chauvin was circulated on the neck of Floyd, a black man, for several minutes. Floyd’s death caused international protests, sometimes violent unrest and a national conversation in America about racial injustice.
On Tuesday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the Fox News star did not characterize the verdict as an impartial decision based on the trial, but rather as the judges’ way of saying, “Please do not hurt us.”
It was part of a monologue with a longer opening, suggesting that the jury was motivated by fear of rioting by people who would have been angry by the innocence.
“Can we trust the way this decision was made?” he asked.
—Nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) 21 April 2021
“Everyone understood the consequences of acquittal in this case well,” Carlson said. “After nearly a year of burning and looting and murder by BLM, it was never in doubt.”
He continued: “Last night, 200 miles from Minneapolis, Los Angeles police blocked roads for the time being. Why? They knew what would happen if Derek Chauvin got off.”
This thinking is broadcast elsewhere on Fox News. On Tuesday afternoon’s “The Five,” Greg Gutfeld expressed relief over the verdict because, as he put it, “my neighborhood was looted” in the initial unrest after Floyd was killed.
With the setback of co-hosts, he said he wanted a ruling that would put this country on fire. ‘
For the first time that night, Carlson presented the verdict as open to debate. “Is the officer guilty of the specific crimes for which he has just been convicted?” he asked. “We can debate it, and in this hour we will do it.”
Carlson had earlier given weight to the discredited theory that fentanyl in Floyd’s system contributed to his death. Chauvin’s defense team also argued this, but was refuted by the prosecution witnesses in court.
Carlson further said politicians, protesters and media people tried to “intimidate” the jury.
“No politician or media figure has the right to intimidate a jury,” he said. “And no political party has the right to apply a different standard of justice to their own supporters.”
He did not specify in his opening monologue how it happened in the Chauvin trial, but he has previously accused the Democrats of maintaining a double standard in discussions about the riot in the Capitol and the Black Lives Matter protests last summer. has.
Both President Joe Biden and Democratic Representative Maxine Waters drew criticism for commenting on the trial before the verdict. Biden said there was “overwhelming evidence” for what he called “the correct verdict”, while Waters said directly that she was “seeking a conviction”.
On Tuesday, Carlson suggested that the fatal shooting of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt – a white supporter of then-President Donald Trump – would not get to the same level as Floyd’s assassination because of what he called ‘political or ethnic considerations’. has.
In February, Washington, DC, police investigators recommended that no charges be filed against the unnamed officer who killed Babbitt, and the Department of Justice announced last week that he would not face federal charges.
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.