WASHINGTON, D.C. (WGHP) – The inaccurate and misleading portrayal of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, that was broadcast by cable TV star Tucker Carlson on Monday night has drawn strong rebuke from some of those inside the Capitol that day – including the senior senator from North Carolina.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) described the efforts by Fox News’ Carlson to downplay the violent attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election as “bull—-.”

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Carlson in his program used a few minutes from the roughly 44,000 hours of security footage shot at the Capitol that day – and given to him exclusively by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) – to create a false narrative about the violence that occurred.

Carlson said the thousands who attacked the Capitol that day in support of the lies about election fraud from former President Donald Trump were “sightseers,” not “insurrectionists.”

Tillis, following strong if not equally inflammatory comments about Carlson’s performance by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the chief of the Capitol Police and others, didn’t mince words when meeting with reporters in the halls of the Capitol.

Tucker Carlson (Credit: Getty Images)

“I was here,” Tillis told NBC News. I was down there, and I saw maybe a few tourists, people who got caught up in things.

“But when you see police barricades breached, when you see police officers assaulted, all of that … if you were just a tourist you should’ve probably lined up at the visitors’ center and came in on an orderly basis.”

On Jan. 6, 2021, there were hundreds of injuries to law enforcement officers, death threats on the life of Vice President Mike Pence and others and, ultimately, seven lives were lost during or after the insurrection.

Jacob Chansley during the Capitol riot in Washington. Chansley pleaded guilty on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, to a felony obstruction charge. He carried a flagpole topped with a spear into the insurrection, yelled into a bullhorn as officers tried to control the crowd, posed for photos on the Senate dais and wrote a note to then-Vice President Mike Pence that prosecutors have said was threatening. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Most recent court records suggest that more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states. More than 518 have pleaded guilty, and approximately 420 have been sentenced, including about 220 to jail time.

There have been 27 arrests involving people from North Carolina, six from the Piedmont Triad. Some are appearing as witnesses in ongoing trials of the leaders of the right-wing militia groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

Seven of those 27 have been sentenced to prison terms. One received a suspended sentence. Several more should learn their fates in the next few weeks. Some have completed their sentences. At least three await sentencing after pleading guilty.

The House Select Committee referred four criminal charges against Trump, and the Department of Justice is investigating. A special counsel also has been appointed to oversee several investigations involving Trump.

Jan 6 Select Committee Fina… by ABC News Politics

Carlson is one of a cadre of performers employed by Fox News who we now know have admitted airing information about election fraud they knew to be incorrect because they were more concerned about ratings and accuracy.

That concern was revealed in court filings from the defamation lawsuit brought against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems, the company that made voting machines. The words of Fox Chair Rupert Murdoch, numerous network executives and star performers such as Carlson removed the last doubt that Fox does not attempt to be a viable purveyor of news.

Members of Congress and news organizations have protested McCarthy’s decision to give all the video reviewed by the nonpartisan Jan. 6 commission to Carlson. His first broadcast portrayed those concerns.

McConnell called McCarthy’s decision to give Carlson the 44,000 hours of video “a mistake.” He called Carlson’s depiction “offensive” and “misleading.”

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and former Rep. Liz Cheney, who cochaired the Jan. 6 commission, also expressed anger as they rebuked Carlson’s portrayal.

In a follow-up interview with McClatchy newspapers, Tillis described how he witnessed Jan. 6.

“I saw people breaching fences, assaulting police officers, using pepper spray, breaking windows, destroying this building we’re walking through right now,” Tillis said. “And it was wrong.”

For his part, Trump on social media called for the hundreds arrested for their crimes that day to “go free.”

FILE – In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. A month ago, the U.S. Capitol was besieged by Trump supporters angry about the former president’s loss. While lawmakers inside voted to affirm President Joe Biden’s win, they marched to the building and broke inside. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE – Members of the Oath Keepers extremist group stand on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. The Capitol riot was the culmination of weeks of preparation and a moment of triumph for the Oath Keepers, federal prosecutor Louis Manzo said Jan. 18, 2023, in closing arguments in the second seditious conspiracy trial against members of the far-right extremist group. The defendants facing jurors in the latest trial are Joseph Hackett, Roberto Minuta, David Moerschel, and Edward Vallejo. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE – Violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
FILE – Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez, of Fontana, Calif., pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using a stun gun to attack a Washington D.C. police officer who was brutally injured while trying to defend the U.S. Capitol from the angry mob of President Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE – Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio wears a hat that says The War Boys during a rally in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 26, 2020. The seditious conspiracy trial of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants is coming at a pivotal time for Justice Department’s investigation and prosecution of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner, File)
Donald Trump
President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to speak at a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Facebook parent Meta is reinstating former President Donald Trump’s personal account after two-year suspension following the Jan. 6 insurrection. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump breach the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
FILE – Rioters loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to interview former Secret Service agent Tony Ornato on Tuesday about Donald Trump’s actions on the day of the insurrection. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE – Rioters loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to interview former Secret Service agent Tony Ornato on Tuesday about Donald Trump’s actions on the day of the insurrection. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Stewart Rhodes
FILE – Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington, on June 25, 2017. A witness testified Wednesday that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tried to get a message to then-President Donald Trump days after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection through an intermediary. He wanted to urge Republican to fight to stay in power and “save the republic.” (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Members of the House Jan. 6 committee return from a break during a hearing on Thursday, July 21, 2022 to focus on former President Trump’s actions during the insurrection.
FILE – Supporters of President Donald Trump supporters attend a rally near the White House in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021. The House Jan. 6 committee is headed back to prime time for its eighth hearing. It might be the final time this summer that lawmakers lay out evidence about the U.S. Capitol insurrection and President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Thursday’s night’s hearing is expected to focus on what Trump was doing in the White House as the violence unfolded. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
Donald Trump
FILE – With the White House in the background, President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. The January 6 committee investigation of the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election and the events leading up to the capitol insurrection raise questions about former President Donald Trump’s role and whether he committed crimes. As illuminating have been the various schemes and talking points that have come up from witnesses that highlight what a president has the authority to do. Government and legal experts say the bigger question is can limits be put on that presidential authority to make sure there are no repeats of 2020 in future administrations. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
FILE – People march towards the U.S. Capitol with those who say they are members of the Proud Boys in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. An upcoming hearing of the U.S. House Committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection is expected to examine ties between people in former President Donald Trump’s orbit and extremist groups who played a role in the Capitol riot. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE – Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl, left, and Ethan Nordean, left, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump, Jan. 6, 2021. An upcoming hearing of the U.S. House Committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection is expected to examine ties between people in former President Donald Trump’s orbit and extremist groups who played a role in the Capitol riot. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE – An ATF police officer cleans up debris and personal belongings that were strewn across the floor of the Rotunda in the early morning hours of Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, after violent insurrectionists stormed the Capitol in Washington. A congressional committee’s hearings on the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection are coming up, and the public has been told to expect revelations. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE – Violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. A federal judge is questioning Donald Trump’s efforts to withhold documents from Congress related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Judge Tanya Chutkan was skeptical Thursday, Nov. 4, of attorneys for the former president who asked her to block the handover of documents to a House committee. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Jacob Chansley during the Capitol riot in Washington. Chansley pleaded guilty on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, to a felony obstruction charge. He carried a flagpole topped with a spear into the insurrection, yelled into a bullhorn as officers tried to control the crowd, posed for photos on the Senate dais and wrote a note to then-Vice President Mike Pence that prosecutors have said was threatening. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
A file photo of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6. In dozens of cases on social media, Trump supporters downright flaunted their activity on the day of the deadly insurrection. Some, apparently realizing they were in trouble with the law, deleted their accounts only to discover their friends and family members had already taken screenshots of their selfies, videos and comments and sent them to the FBI. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)