Ted Lieu Asks Tucker Carlson: 'Why Do You Hate America?'

Representative Ted Lieu asked Fox News personality Tucker Carlson why he hates America after Carlson suggested that the FBI could have been involved in organizing the January 6 Capitol riot.

Lieu, a Democrat who represents California's 33rd district, took to Twitter on Wednesday and shared a Washington Post article criticizing Carlson for floating the theory.

Carlson made the remarks during his Fox News prime time show on Tuesday night and the idea has found some support, including from Republican Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz.

Lieu shared a tweet from the Post's Aaron Blake, attaching his article outlining and critiquing Carlson's comments.

"Tucker Carlson's theory that the FBI organized the Capitol riot is a remarkable conspiracy theory even for him," Blake wrote.

In a retweet, Lieu said: "Dear @TuckerCarlson: Why do you hate America?"

He tagged Carlson's official account, but tweets from the account are sporadic, with the last post having been written on June 10.

During his Tuesday show, Carlson highlighted the fact that some of those allegedly involved in the January 6 Capitol riot haven't been identified. He suggested that the unindicted co-conspirators could be FBI agents and noted that the FBI Director Christopher Wray has said it's the government's aim to infiltrate extremist groups.

"Strangely, some of the key people who participated on January 6 have not been charged. Look at the document. The government calls those people unindicted co-conspirators. What does that mean? Well, it means that in potentially every single case, they were FBI operatives," Carlson said.

He cited two unindicted co-conspirators in the indictment of alleged Capitol rioter Thomas Caldwell. Caldwell is accused of conspiring with members of the Oath Keepers and the indictment mentions "Person Two," who shared a hotel room with Caldwell, and "Person Three," whom Caldwell has said was involved in a "quick reaction force."

"But wait, here's the interesting thing: Person Two and Person Three were organizers of the riot. The government knows who they are, but the government has not charged them. Why is that?" Carlson asked on Tuesday.

"You know why: They were almost certainly working for the FBI. So, FBI operatives were organizing the attack on the Capitol on January 6, according to government documents."

"And those two are not alone. In all, Revolver News reported there are, quote, 'upwards of 20 unindicted co-conspirators in the Oath Keeper indictments, all playing various roles in the conspiracy who have not been charged for virtually the exact same activities, and in some cases, much, much more severe activities as those named alongside them in the indictments,'" Carlson said.

In his article, Blake criticized Carlson's claim, noting that the Fox News host relied on reporting from Revolver News, a site run by former Trump White House speech writer Darren Beattie, who was fired in 2018 after it emerged he had attended a 2016 conference alongside white nationalists.

Blake also offered other reasons why unindicated co-conspirators might not have been named, such as the government not knowing who they are or not having enough evidence to indict them.

He described Carlson's comments as "the kind of suggestion journalists in other organizations would quite possibly be fired for if they sought to push it nearly as hard."

Newsweek has asked Representative Ted Lieu and Fox News for comment.