Megyn Kelly said Monday that there was no question in her mind the media had exaggerated the violence that occurred during the Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
Kelly said on her podcast — with guest Chrissie Mayr — that although she had been shocked and disheartened by some of the events that day, she believed media intentionally played up the violence that occurred at the riot in an effort to make it appear much worse than it was. (RELATED: Hill Reporters Mocked After Describing ‘Trauma’ Caused By Jan. 6 Riot)
Five people died in relation to the Capitol riot. Three suffered health emergencies, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who had a stroke. Two others — Rosanne Boyland was crushed to death and Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by Capitol Police — died as a result of trauma sustained during the riot.
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Mayr was at the Jan. 6 rally for former President Donald Trump — which later devolved into a riot — and she said that she had been unaware of much of the violence until after the fact.
“I mean, it was horrible, like, like, Ashli Babbitt was murdered — should not have happened, but for a group who could have come fully armed to the Capitol, they didn’t … It was extremely peaceful and chill and most of us didn’t even know what was happening until hours later,” Mayr said.
“There is no question the media represented it as so much worse than it actually was,” Kelly said, although she made it clear that some of the day’s events were undeniably awful. (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Describes Hiding In Her Bathroom During Riot, Questions Whether Officer Purposefully Put Her At Risk)
“We’ve all seen the video of people like screaming in the face of cops, being totally disparaging, and defecating on the floor of the U.S. Capitol,” she said. “Lawmakers were understandably afraid. Not like [Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez], ‘I need therapy for the rest of my life,’ afraid, but I can understand it, and I didn’t like seeing it at all.”