Laura Ingraham opened her Fox “News” show Wednesday night with a claim that “violence is breaking out in the streets of Louisville” despite all reporting–including from Fox “News”–that protests had dissipated an hour before.
Following an awkward hand-off from Sean Hannity, Ingraham’s opening monologue proclaimed that Louisville was turning into a violent hellscape.
“Now, despite a curfew declared an hour ago, violence is breaking out in the streets of Louisville,” Ingraham said grimly. “Now, two local police officers have been shot in what can only be described as ‘revenge shootings’ in the wake of the Breonna Taylor grand jury decision.”
While it is true that two officers were reportedly shot tonight, there is no evidence to prove that they were “revenge shootings” and no suspect has been arrested, let alone interrogated to ascertain a motive.
Also, Ingraham showed exclusive body cam footage, reportedly from the Louisville Metro Police Department, showing the moment when shots rang out, with a female officer declaring, “We’ve got one down.” Ingraham did not explain how Fox “News” was the only network with that footage.
All through Ingraham’s description, she was playing b-roll of trash fires that were set earlier in the evening, evident by the twilight that happened at sunset, hours before Ingraham went on the air.
Additionally, just nine minutes before Ingraham began her show, Hannity did an interview with correspondent Jeff Paul, on the streets of downtown Louisville. During an earlier interchange with Paul, demonstrators are seen momentarily putting out a trash fire with bottled water; as soon as the camera caught the shot, the control room cut back to a 1-shot of Hannity.
Besides Paul, who stated he was just one block away from the site where the officers were shot, there is no one on the street besides police and national guard, who look surprising calm in the midst of Ingraham’s claimed outbreaking violence. A live shot from WDRB in Louisville showed no one walking the street.