Tucker Carlson reveals his son was in Capitol building on 6 January

‘One of my kids was actually in the building when it happened. I was on the phone in real-time’

Tucker Carlson revealed that his son, who works at the House of Representatives, was in the Congress on 6 January, when supporters of former president Donald Trump attacked the Capitol building.

The Fox News host received heavy criticism for downplaying the riots through his bizarre three-part documentary series Patriot Purge. At least five people died and 100 police officers sustained injuries in the deadliest attack on the Capitol building in the country’s history.

In an interview with Steve Krakauer for his podcast on Thursday, Mr Carlson said he “hated what happened on January 6”.

“One of my kids was actually in the building when it happened. I was on the phone in real-time,” he added.

According to reports, Mr Carlson was referring to his son Buckley Carlson who works for representative Jim Banks.

The host of Tucker Carlson Tonight then continued that he hates “disorder” but accused a section of the media of exaggerating the day’s damage.

“I’m from Washington. I hate disorder... People got all wound up, I get it. Some of them misbehaved, I am not gonna defend that, but it has been used like so many events throughout history as a pretext for something else,” he said.

“So they lie about what actually happened, they repeat the lie with maximum aggression, and over time, that lie solidifies into the common understanding of what happened,” Mr Carlson added.

Patriot Purge propagates a debunked conspiracy that the Federal Bureau of Investigation incited the Capitol Hill riots and features subjects who suggest the event could have been a “false flag operation”.

The documentary said the violence by supporters of Mr Trump was orchestrated by left-wing activists. The series also alleges that the Joe Biden administration is using criminal cases to strip Mr Trump’s supporters of their constitutional rights.

In protest against the series, two longtime Fox News contributors Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg resigned from the television network in November.

Announcing their resignation on their commentary website The Dispatch, they said the documentary was a “collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions.”

The series, which is currently being streamed on Fox streaming service Fox Nation, led to outrage on social media, where users, including Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney, tore into the host for peddling propaganda.

The Wyoming lawmaker wrote: “It’s un-American to be spreading those kinds of lies, and they are lies.”

The congresswoman, who is also the vice chair of the House select committee probing the riots, called out Mr Carlson in October for airing “lies”.

Mr Carlson concluded by saying “anybody who refers to the events of January 6 as an insurrection is a liar.”