An increasing majority of American voters believe the federal government had a role in inciting violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a national poll has found.
The Rasmussen Reports poll of 963 likely U.S. voters found 65 percent believe that undercover federal agents helped provoke rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
That result was up 4 percent from a March poll, taken before now-former Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired several previously unreleased security videos from the Capitol.
Forty-six percent of those polled said they believe it is “very likely” government agents helped provoke violence at the Capitol. Some 26 percent said they don’t believe the government provoked rioting, including 12 percent who think it is “not at all likely.”
Carlson’s producers spent several weeks looking through more than 41,000 hours of Jan. 6 video, with exclusive access provided by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
A series of specials aired on Fox the first week of March detailed Carlson’s findings. They showed Jan. 6 defendant Jacob Chansley—the so-called QAnon Shaman—being led around inside the Capitol and let into the U.S. Senate chamber by Capitol Police.
The release of the video clips on Fox sparked outrage from Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Schumer called on Fox owner Rupert Murdoch to stop Carlson from showing Jan. 6 security video footage.
Rasmussen found that 67 percent of voters reported they closely followed news about the Jan. 6 videos, including 39 percent who followed the news “very closely.”
Thirty-two percent of respondents said the new videos made them more likely to believe supporters of former President Donald Trump engaged in an “illegal insurrection,” while an equal 32 percent said they are less likely to believe in the “insurrection” narrative as a result of the new Jan. 6 videos.
Another person discussed in Carlson’s broadcast was Ray Epps, a former Arizona Oath Keepers leader who was famously captured on camera a day before the Jan. 6, 2021, protests urging people to enter the U.S. Capitol.
In a CBS “60 Minutes” segment aired on April 23, Epps accused Carlson of targeting him. “He’s obsessed with me,” Epps told CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker. “He’s going to any means necessary to destroy my life and our lives.” The FBI told the network that “Ray Epps has never been an FBI source or an FBI employee.”
Results of the Rasmussen poll, taken April 12, 13, and 16, were just the latest indicator that the public wants to know more about what is on the 41,000 hours of security video, most of which has been kept from public view by court order.
A Rasmussen Reports poll released on March 2 found that 80 percent of likely U.S. voters believe it is important that the public be able to view all the videos of the Capitol riot, including 58 percent who think it’s very important. Only 17 percent said they don’t think it’s important for the public to be able to see all the Jan. 6 videos.
Article cross-posted from our premium news partners at The Epoch Times.
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
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Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker