“Who is this person? Why hasn’t he been charged?”
Those were questions Tucker Carlson asked on his Dec. 6, 2021 broadcast about a man wearing red face paint and a MAGA hat, who was spotted on the front lines during the attack on the Capitol. A Carlson guest on that same broadcast — an attorney representing several Jan. 6 defendants — went even further, proclaiming that the man was “clearly a law enforcement officer.”
Days later, we learned in a HuffPost report that the man’s name is Rally Runner. (Yes, really.) And now, he has been arrested by the FBI.
According to NBC News, Rally Runner was arrested in St. Louis on five federal charges including interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder. Runner, who was formerly known as Daniel Donnelly Jr., was a rabid fan of the St. Louis Cardinals who ran around the stadium during games. Days after the Carlson segment casting him as a cop, he spoke publicly and insisted he was a genuine supporter of former President Donald Trump. He also identified as a “huge Tucker Carlson fan.”
“Disappointed is an understatement,” Runner told reporter Ryan J. Reilly. “For years I believed Tucker was a responsible reporter focused on stopping ‘Fake News’ just to be hit with this story.”
But on Dec. 6, 2021, Carlson did indeed ask his innuendo-laden questions about Rally Runner. And attorney Joseph McBride, Carlson’s guest, flat out branded him an “agent provocateur” and said he was “clearly a law enforcement officer.”
Carlson been accused of defamation as part of a lawsuit filed against Fox News by Ray Epps — a man who was at the center of similar false flag conspiracy theories spread by Carlson. The former Fox News host claimed Epps “helped stage-manage the insurrection” and promoted the theory that Epps was actually working undercover as a federal agent on Jan. 6.
Patriot Purge, a widely-panned documentary for Fox News’s streaming service produced by Carlson, also featured an interview with McBride and pushed the conspiracy theory that Jan. 6 was orchestrated by the U.S. government.
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