Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Capitol Rioter's Lawyer Says Client Had 'Foxitis' From Watching Too Much Fox News

Capitol Rioter's Lawyer Says Client Had 'Foxitis' From Watching Too Much Fox News
@ryanjreilly/Twitter // Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump's lies about the validity of the 2020 election prompted a mob of his extremist followers to storm the United States Capitol in a deadly failed insurrection this past January.

Exacerbating Trump's delusional claims that the election was "stolen" by Democrats engaging in widespread fraud was the embrace with which Republican lawmakers and right wing media greeted these claims.


The conservative Fox News network frequently amplified Trump's election conspiracy theories during Trump's lame duck period, particularly during its primetime slots featuring far-right entertainment anchors. Fox host Sean Hannity featured pro-Trump conspiracy theorist lawyer Sidney Powell in the weeks following the election. There, Powell spewed the fantasy that election companies like Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic were working with foreign countries to subvert American elections. These lies went unchallenged by Hannity.

Fox News, along with hosts Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro, is now facing billions of dollars in defamation lawsuits from Smartmatic. Dominion has sued Fox News as well.

As recently as Thursday, Fox News host wondered "who is right?" about the claims of fraud in the 2020 election, despite the existence of widespread voter fraud being heavily refuted.

So it doesn't take much stretching of the imagination to see why the lawyer of one Capitol rioter is laying the responsibility of his client's actions at the feet of Fox.

HuffPost reports that Lawyer Joseph Hurley, who represents Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio, said to a D.C. magistrate judge that his client fell into a rabbit hole of Fox News coverage after being laid off in light of the pandemic that's killed nearly 600 thousand Americans.

Hurley said:

"For the next approximate six months, Fox television played constantly. [Antonio] became hooked with what I call 'Foxitus' or 'Foxmania' and became interested in the political aspect and started believing what was being fed to him."

Social media users pointed to Hurley's statement as a further indictment of Fox News' dangerous disinformation.



Others noted that watching Fox News isn't an excuse for Antonio's actions.



While Antonio blames Fox News, other Capitol rioters have blamed Trump himself for their actions, insisting that his words—including telling his supporters to march to the Capitol just minutes before the siege began—convinced them what they were doing was right.

Trump and the Republican party continue to embrace the election fraud conspiracy theory, which has come to be known as "The Big Lie," even after the nation watched in horror at the first siege of the United States Capitol by its own citizens in American history.



While Fox has yet to respond to Antonio's defense, the network said in response to the Dominion lawsuit:

"FOX News Media is proud of our 2020 election coverage, which stands in the highest tradition of American journalism, and will vigorously defend against this baseless lawsuit in court."

It also filed for motions to dismiss another defamation lawsuit from election software company Smartmatic.

More from News

Kid Rock
Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Kid Rock Dragged After Donning A Truly Over-The-Top Outfit For His White House Visit

Singer Kid Rock was slammed for wearing a loud patriotic costume inside the Oval Office as Republican President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday against ticket scalping.

The rocker's outfit consisted of a red, white, and blue jacket emblazoned with two eagles facing each other above the American flag with the number 250, a nod to America's upcoming 250th anniversary, and white stars on his sleeves.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Bill Cassidy
CNBC

MAGA Senator Just Said The Quiet Part Out Loud With Epic Freudian Slip About Medicare

Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy was widely mocked following his inconvenient slip of the tongue during a CNBC interview as he mused about finding ways to "cut" Medicare before quickly correcting himself.

The exchange occurred after host Rebecca Quick pressed Louisiana Republican and former physician Bill Cassidy on how his party intended to fund the “trillion-dollar tax cuts” sought by President Donald Trump.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Tim Sheehy
CNN

GOP Senator Gets Blunt Reality Check After Comparing Trump Tariff 'Pain' To Home Renovation

Montana Republican Senator Tim Sheehy was criticized after he tried to compare the "short-term pain" of President Donald Trump's tariffs to home renovation, a claim so ridiculous that CNN's Kaitlan Collins quickly pushed back on the analogy.

Trump has repeatedly referred to April 2 as “Liberation Day,” pledging to impose tariffs—taxes on imports—to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign goods. He has framed these tariffs as “reciprocal,” aiming to match the duties other nations place on American exports.

Keep ReadingShow less
Susan Crawford; Elon Musk
Scott Olson/Getty Images (left and right)

Liberal Wisconsin Judge Calls Out Elon Musk In Victory Speech—And It's Everything

Liberal judge Susan Crawford called out billionaire Elon Musk in her victory speech after winning a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, basking in successfully beating her Republican opponent Brad Schimel and ensuring that the nonpartisan court’s narrow 4-3 liberal majority remains intact despite Musk's efforts to sway the race.

Musk fueled the high-stakes race, having poured more than $20 million into supporting Schimel, according to state campaign records. That includes $3 million to the state Republican Party—$2 million of which was donated just last week. Due to state election laws, large contributions must be funneled through political parties before reaching candidates.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Describe The Worst 'Bonus' They've Ever Gotten At Work

Most of us have worked at one problematic workplace, with reasons ranging from toxic coworkers to terrible bosses to unlivable pay. Sometimes, it feels like a joke that the employees are even being paid at all!

But the biggest joke of all might be the end-of-year bonus, or lack thereof. They're at times so laughable, they take the cake for horrible work conditions, or are quite literally, a slice of cake.

Keep ReadingShow less