Jan. 6 rioter’s lawyer blamed client’s 'Foxmania' on attack: 'Believing what was being fed to him'

14 December 2023

A 29-year-old participant in the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 recently pleaded guilty in federal court, and his attorney is partially blaming Fox News.

The Daily Beast reported Thursday that Delaware man Anthony Alexander Antonio pleaded guilty to charges of obstructing an official proceeding in relation to his storming of the US Capitol in an attempt to delay Congress' certification of the 2020 Electoral College count. His attorney, Joseph Hurley, said Fox News "played constantly" in his client's home in the months leading up to the 2020 election, and that Antonio eventually became "obsessed" with watching the network.

"He 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," Hurley said.

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Body camera video from US Capitol Police officers show Antonio climbing scaffolding outside of the capitol building, charging police lines, stealing an officer's riot shield and squirting water from a bottle at officers. In an interview with white supremacist website VDare conducted at the time of the attack, Antonio said even though Trump supporters "lost lives" he was committed to the cause of undoing what he perceived was a "stolen" election.

"Patriots, we took the Capitol and we’re not stopping. I will be back tonight. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t breathe, but we’re not backing down," Antonio said during the interview.

Fox News played a major role in amplifying conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, including baseless claims about the veracity of Dominion Voting Systems machines used at polling places in various states. Following a lawsuit from Dominion, Fox News ultimately moved to settle with the company for nearly $800 million in order to avoid a public trial.

Internal communications from the network's top primetime anchors showed that both producers and on-air talent privately doubted claims that voting machines were compromised. Then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson texted a producer that he thought the Dominion claims were "absurd," even though he said otherwise on his program. Host Maria Bartiromo — who also promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 election — privately referred to an email from Trump attorney Sidney Powell as "kooky." Fox host Sean Hannity referred to Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani as "an insane person" even as he told his viewers that there was "serious election misconduct" in numerous states.