Sunday Shows IGNORE Kavanaugh Threat, Spend Over An Hour on Jan 6

Kevin Tober
June 12th, 2022 4:05 PM

Text to Speech

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As previously reported, ABC’s This Week ignored the attempted assassination of Brett Kavanaugh, while gushing over White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and obsessing over the Democrats January 6 committee hearings which revealed very few new details about the riot at the Capitol eighteen months ago. 

This Week wasn’t the only Sunday show to ignore the attempted murder of a Supreme Court Justice while obsessing over January 6. 

An analysis by NewsBusters found that ABC’s This Week, CBS’s Face the Nation, NBC’s Meet the Press, and CNN’s State of the Union spent one hour, thirty-three minutes, and seven seconds combined on the January 6 hearings and interviews: 

 

 

By contrast, Fox News Sunday covered the assassination attempt but also grilled Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Coons on the topic. 

Anchor Bret Baier asked Coons: 

You heard in Lucas' piece, this week a man called police on himself saying he wanted to kill Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh. He did that outside Kavanaugh's home, armed and prepared to do it. You cosponsor this bill last month to beef up security for Supreme Court justices and their family, but the house has not moved on that bill for 30 days. You heard House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Lucas' piece reference there's no problem here, there's protection for the justices, nobody is going to get harmed over the weekend. But what about that and what is the hold-up? 

Coons claimed, “the House is working to add a provision that would allow the marshal of the Supreme Court to decide to extend protection to the staff and families of staff of the Supreme Court.” 

Baier correctly noted how “there is already a federal statute on the books that makes it illegal to protest in front of a judge's home. It is title 18, section 1507” and that these [pro abortion] groups published the conservative justices' addresses online.” 

 

 

Predictably Coons tried to tie the subject back to the January 6 hearings: “I do think we need to take stronger action to make sure that our federal judiciary is safe because that's part of making sure our democracy is safe, which really is the core issue of the January 6 hearings.” 

Bringing up the left’s glaring hypocrisy on incitement of violence, Baier brought up Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer’s threats in front of the Supreme Court during a pro-abortion rally: 

CHUCK SCHUMER: I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price! You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions. 

BAIER: On the steps of the Supreme Court, did those words qualify, Senator? 

Coons didn’t directly answer the question. Instead, he played both siderism by claiming “all of us need to reduce the level of our rhetoric and be mindful of the fact that stirring up potential violence is not a good or constructive thing to be doing at this moment in our country by any political leader.” 

At least Fox News was responsible in their coverage of the attempt on the life of a Supreme Court Justice and didn’t pretend it never happened like the other Sunday shows. 

This appalling bias by omission was made possible by CarFax on ABC, Walmart on CBS, Fisher Investments on NBC, and Amazon Prime on CNN. Their information is linked. 

To read the transcript from the June 12 segment of Fox News Sunday click “expand”: 

Fox News Sunday
6/12/2022
9:04:54 a.m. Eastern

BRET BAIER: You heard in Lucas' piece, this week a man called police on himself saying he wanted to kill Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh. He did that outside Kavanaugh's home, armed and prepared to do it. You cosponsor this bill last month to beef up security for Supreme Court justices and their family, but the house has not moved on that bill for 30 days. You heard House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Lucas' piece reference there's no problem here, there's protection for the justices, nobody is going to get harmed over the weekend. But what about that and what is the hold up? 

CHRIS COONS: Well, Bret, I was grateful for the chance to work with Senator Cornyn. We got that bill unanimously through the United States Senate and as you know these days not enough things get through the Senate with the kind of uniform universal support that that bill enjoyed. The House is working to add a provision that would allow the marshal of the Supreme Court to decide to extend protection to the staff and families of staff of the Supreme Court. I think that's appropriate, that's an acceptable compromise. More than anything I think the House needs to take it up and pass it early next week, and I'm optimistic after several conversations with House leadership that they will. Frankly, as you also referenced in the introduction, Bret, the January 6 hearing that just took place was a riveting reminder of the dangers of politically motivated violence in our country and the gun massacres, the shootings that happened at a grocery store in Buffalo and at an elementary school in Uvalde are also a call to action and I'm grateful to be working with Senator Cornyn as a part of a broad bipartisan group that's working to address mental health and gun safety as well. 

BAIER: I’m going to get to both of those other things in just a minute, but staying on this particular thing, there is already a federal statute on the books that makes it illegal to protest in front of a judge's home. It is title 18, section 1507. These groups published the conservative justices' addresses online; they've been protesting nightly. Should they be arrested? 

COONS: Look, Bret, we have to strike the right balance here between protecting freedom of speech in this country and ensuring that our justices and judges are safe. We passed a bill through the senate months and months ago that would also provide further protections obscuring the addresses, for example, of justices and judges. That is something we took up in the wake of a horrifying attack on the family of a federal court judge in New Jersey where her son was killed. I do think we need to take stronger action to make sure that our federal judiciary is safe because that's part of making sure our democracy is safe, which really is the core issue of the January 6 hearings, is how do we make sure that the fundamentals of our democracy, the safety and security of Congress, the peaceful transfer of power and I would also add the safety and security of our federal judiciary is insured, we should act. 

(...)

BAIER: Alright, last thing before we get to January 6. A lot has been made this week about words, how much they matter, how much stirring the pot, giving the green light to violence in any way, shape, or form is acceptable. Take a listen to this. 

CHUCK SCHUMER: I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price! You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions. 

BAIER: On the steps of the Supreme Court, did those words qualify, Senator? 

COONS: So here's a key distinction. What Senator Schumer was saying was that he was upset. He was alarmed, he was concerned at the prospect that justices would reverse decades of a well-established fundamental constitutional right in our country. What he did not say was let's go attack them. The point of the January 6 hearing is to prove that that is in fact what President Trump did, that he, in the words of Congresswoman Cheney, summoned the mob, stirred up the mob and then lit the fuse that sent them storming the Capitol of the United States. I do think there's a distinguishable difference between what we just heard from Senator Schumer and the actions taken by former President Trump and his circle of advisors in the days before January 6. 

BAIER: Okay, I—

COONS: And the results were clear and I think catastrophic. The physical assault of officers that led to several officer deaths and the shattering of the capitol perimeter. Frankly, as one of the members of the Senate who had to be escorted out along with the Vice President by capitol police just feet ahead of an angry mob, I do think that we are at risk of a season of political violence in this country, and all of us should reduce the temper and level of our rhetoric. 

BAIER: Including Senator Schumer, who has said the justices released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You don't see any problem with that kind of language on the Supreme Court? 

COONS: That's not what I said. What I just said, Bret, was I think all of us need to reduce the level of our rhetoric and be mindful of the fact that stirring up potential violence is not a good or constructive thing to be doing at this moment in our country by any political leader.

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