It’s not unreasonable to assume all statements coming from congressional Republicans who attempted the coup (Hawley, Cruz, McCarthy, the other 220) are obviously more misinformation and should be covered the way you wish you’d covered the “Big Lie” instead of just reprinting them

It’s very easy to do this: “GOP Leader McCarthy tried to overturn the election by lying about voter fraud. After spreading antisemitic misinformation leading up the Jan. 6 white supremacist attack, today he made another false claim about his role in inciting the insurrection.”

They’re lying to you because they know you’ll reprint the lie as “news.” You wouldn’t cover North Korea by saying “North Korea’s leader said today that he has personally discovered the cure for covid-19” so why cover McCarthy et al. like that? Because you’re friends with them?

The riot was not a random act of violence. It was baked in a weekslong misinformation campaign that relied on the media reprinting those lies and platforming the liars, which they did under the guise of “going one on one” but really just giving them free airtime. Why do it again?