Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, N.Y., on Sunday accused Fox News and some of its hosts of "incitement of violence" leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
"We have very real issues with what is permissible on air," Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC while discussing Fox's recent $787.5 million settlement last week with Dominion Voting Systems.
"We saw that with Jan. 6 and we saw that in the lead up to Jan. 6 and how we navigate questions — not just a freedom of speech but also accountability for incitement of violence — this is the line that we have to really explore through law as well," the congresswoman added.
Host Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary, asked Ocasio-Cortez if media organizations should be held responsible for their content if it inspires violence.
"I believe that when it comes to broadcast television, like Fox News, these are subject to federal law, federal regulation in terms of what's allowed on air and what isn't," Ocasio-Cortez said. "When you look at what Tucker Carlson and some of these other folks on Fox do, it is very, very clearly incitement of violence — very clearly incitement of violence. And that is the line that we have to be willing to contend with."
AOC: When you look at what Tucker Carlson and some of these other folks on Fox do, it is very clearly incitement of violence pic.twitter.com/l2HVhTWzkV
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 23, 2023
Ocasio-Cortez also stated that she feels Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is the real leader of the House Republican caucus.
"I think you've got Marjorie Taylor Greene running the caucus," she told Psaki. "I mean, and she makes very common public statements to that effect. Every time something irks her, she communicates that McCarthy is doing her bidding. And I think that this is something that is quite clear."
Ocasio-Cortez added that McCarthy "brought himself up a creek without a paddle" when he chose to back the far-right of his party.
"I think that Speaker McCarthy is stuck between having to please the most racist and heinous elements of his party with having to maintain a majority, and he is choosing to side with the extremists," she said.
