Fox News Channel’s Harris Faulkner Apologizes For Airing Paul Pelosi Video Without Warning

Fox News Channel host Harris Faulkner apologized to viewers Friday afternoon after the network aired police bodycam video of the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “We had no idea what that was going to look like, and that should have had a warning and a graphic before we showed it and then on screen.”

The footage, released Friday by a San Francisco court, shows the scene at the Pelosi home when officers responded to a 911 call after an intruder with a hammer broke into the house on October 28, 2022. As officers arrive, Paul Pelosi is seen appearing to hold onto the hammer which remains in the hands of the suspect, David DePape. Within seconds, DePape pulls the hammer free and immediately swings it above his head and hits Mr. Pelosi’s skull. The officers rush in to grab DePape as Pelosi appears motionless on the floor. He spent six days in the hospital and underwent surgery for a skull fracture.

The police video was aired on FNC’s Outnumbered, along with separate video from a surveillance camera that showed DePape using the hammer to break his way into the Pelosi home.

“The producers are apologizing to me, but I want to apologize to you,” Faulkner said after airing the bodycam video for the first time as the Faulkner and co-host Kennedy seemed stunned by just how graphic the video was. Faulkner noted that Kennedy had “looked away” due to the violence captured on the video.

“I have a hard time seeing violence like that and that was just a natural reaction. I know it’s our job to look at those things and analyze them and take them in, but also the anticipation — we know what’s going to happen,” Kennedy said.

The network’s coverage and discussion of the video—including audio from the 911 call to police—carried a warning to viewers from that point on.

The attack on Mr. Pelosi spawned a host of unsubstantiated claims and conspiracy theories, particularly among Republicans, with some of that misinformation making its way into discussions on Fox News. These included suggestions that the incident at the Pelosi home was a “domestic incident” between Mr. Pelosi and his attacker.