Fox News’ Laura Ingraham gave out “best performance” awards Tuesday night to the police officers who emotionally testified in the first day of hearings for the Congressional select committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 riot.
During “The Ingraham Angle,” she declared that Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn gave the “best political performance” and Officer Michael Fanone gave the “best action performance.” Her show’s team even mocked up some trophy graphics.
The Jan. 6 House Select Committee held its first hearings earlier on Tuesday, opening with emotional testimony from Capitol police officers who recounted being beaten, having racial slurs thrown at them and believing they might die.
Fanone, who has been making regular media appearances since the deadly Capitol riot in an effort to bring attention to what happened that day, said, “At one point I came face to face with an attacker who repeatedly lunged for me and attempted to remove my firearm. I heard chanting from some in the crowd: ‘Get his gun and kill him with his own gun.’ I was aware enough to recognize I was at risk of being stripped of and killed with my own firearm. I was electrocuted again and again and again with a taser. I’m sure I was screaming but I don’t think I could even hear my own voice.”
Officers testified Tuesday that there were numerous pro-law enforcement flags in the crowd of rioters, who supported then-President Donald Trump and breached the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election win. Dunn noted that he’d never been called the N-word while he was in uniform before, but that changed on Jan. 6. Dunn said he was called the slur repeatedly that day.
Ingraham faced pushback for the segment, with former conservative Rep. Joe Walsh writing on Twitter, “We’ve always had a choice: We can attack those who attacked our democracy that day, or we can attack those who defended our democracy that day. Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and so many others chose the latter. Despicable.”
Chicago Tribune humor columnist Rex Huppke mused, “I know I shouldn’t be surprised by this still, but the abject cruelty major Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham are directing at the Capitol police officers is grotesque and should never meet any broadcast standard. If I wrote a column spouting shit like that…”