Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has suggested that the federal government should consider banning U.S. troops from watching Fox News while claiming that the network is “perpetuating” so-called “dis- and misinformation.”
During an interview with MSNBC host Katie Phang on Saturday, Swalwell said that despite not wanting to “get in the business of telling troops what they can and cannot watch,” he might be open to banning Fox News on military installations.
Phang was fretting about the ongoing Dominion lawsuit and the “damage” she believed was being done by Fox News.
The lawsuit falsely claims that Fox News reporters stated that the 2020 election was rigged while believing privately that it wasn’t.
Democrats and their allies in the corporate media have been deceitfully trying to link the lawsuit to Tucker Carlson’s explosive Jan. 6 Tapes reporting in an effort to smear the reports as “lies.”
After propping up this false link, Phang then asked Swalwell whether Congress was ready to get involved.
The congressman responded by saying that “we need to take a look at” Fox News “being broadcast to our troops.”
“Has there been any discussions in Congress about maybe congressional oversight, regulations, maybe the FCC getting involved?” Phang asked.
“I know we all respect the First Amendment, Congressman, but should there be some type of gatekeeping that happens so that this doesn’t happen again?”
Swalwell referenced a recent push from the political action committee VoteVets to ban Fox News on military installations.
He added that he understood it could be a particularly heavy lift because the network is popular with American service members.
“FOX hosts’ election lies and disinformation splits the ranks, hurts unit cohesion, and weakens America’s national defense,” the PAC tweeted.
“They must be removed from all TVs on military installations NOW.”
FOX hosts' election lies and disinformation splits the ranks, hurts unit cohesion, and weakens America's national defense. They must be removed from all TVs on military installations NOW.
Share if you agree! pic.twitter.com/1a6WiYB0hV
— VoteVets (@votevets) March 6, 2023
“Nothing makes them feel more like home than their access to American television programming,” Swalwell said
“I don’t want to get in the business of telling troops what they can and cannot watch.
“But, if you have a news station that a court is going to rule is, in its evening hour, you know, perpetuating dis- and misinformation, I don’t know if I disagree with VoteVets, who was saying that we need to take a look at, you know, how this is being broadcast to our troops,” Swalwell continued.
“I don’t think we’re without complete recourse,” the California congressman said.
Swalwell appeared to suggest that threats of congressional oversight would be “an incentive for Fox News to clean up” programming that did not fall in line.
WATCH:
"Nothing makes [our troops] feel more like home than their access to American television programming, and a popular channel is Fox News," says Democrat Eric Swalwell.
"We need to take a look at how [Fox News] is being broadcast to our troops." pic.twitter.com/tzJeTfyEoU
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 11, 2023
Democrats and a number of legacy media talking heads have spent much of the last week criticizing Fox News and popular host Tucker Carlson.
The Left is outraged over Carlson’s broadcast of previously unseen footage from Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.
The footage finally exposes the Democrats’ narrative, that Jan. 6 was a “deadly insurrection,” to be a lie that was peddled by the media.
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