Fox News is trotting out COVID Karens in yet another desperate attempt to undermine the Harris-Walz campaign.

My Crooks and Liars colleague, Heather, did a good rundown of the two COVID Karens Fox News has been showcasing in an effort to attack Democratic Minnesota Gov. and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. You probably won’t be shocked to learn that Fox left out a lot of information about these ladies in order to present them as some kind of freedom martyrs.

One of them, Lisa Hanson, visited Fox’s America’s Newsroom show on Wednesday for a segment FoxNews.com called, “Former Minnesotan jailed for defying Walz’s COVID policies slams Dem VP pick: His policies ‘destroy’ Americans’ rights.”

In reality, bar-owner Hanson was jailed for breaking Gov. Walz’s executive order shutting indoor bar service and dining during the pandemic and not showing up for her bail hearing. As Heather noted, Hanson was found guilty by a jury and received a much harsher sentence than prosecutors sought because the judge said he wanted to send a message to those who violated COVID orders. He told Hanson “You wanted to make money over the interest of public safety” and ““You don’t recognize the law. You don’t think you’re subject to the law.”

But on Fox News, public safety takes a far back seat to MAGA political propaganda.

Unsurprisingly, Fox has glommed on to Hanson in yet another desperate effort to stop the Harris-Walz surge. Something tells me that attacking Walz over a years-old order over a subject that is mostly in the rearview mirror won't work much better than Trump’s attacks on Kamala Harris’ crowd size.

“News” anchor Bill Hemmer did his best to portray COVID Karen Hanson as a harbinger of the big dangers of Harris-Walz administration. He introduced Hanson by saying, “she has had one heck of an ordeal.”

“She’s a grandmother of soon-to-be 18 grandkids, she owns a small bistro south of Minneapolis, sent to jail in December of 2021 for defying Gov. Walz’s COVID restrictions.” Or to put it another way, she went to jail for breaking the law.

Hemmer was clearly on the side of the law-breaker. More to the point, he did his best to make sure the viewers were, too. “I am really sorry for what you experienced and what you went through,” he said emphatically as he kicked off the softball interview with Hanson. “You’ve got eight kids, you’re runnin’ a business (I guess this highly-paid talking head thought that dropping a g made him sound more like a regular guy.)

“And the governor did what to you?” he asked Hanson.

“This is a really important story that needs to be shared,” she said. “America needs to know what kind of a man Tim Walz is.”

Yeah, he’s the kind of man who wants to save lives. Not that Hemmer cared about that.

Hanson went on to claim that Walz knew “the governor has no authority to do what he did because we all know that the governor doesn’t make laws.”

No, he didn’t make a law, he issued an executive order. That’s why it’s called “executive order.” Furthermore, the judge who sentenced Hanson considered the order legal. But what would he know, eh?

Of course, Hemmer did not challenge or correct Hanson’s misinforming falsehood.

Hanson went on to claim that big box stores, liquor stores and, most dubiously, strip clubs were deemed "essential" and allowed to stay open. Hemmer did not question the strip-club claim, much less provide any verification.

Instead, with unconcealed poutrage, Hemmer declared that Hanson had served 90 days in jail and that she said her business had been destroyed.

“We have rights in this country,” Karen Hanson continued. “The Constitution protects our God-given rights. When I faced these tyrannical leaders, if you will, there were no rights. I was stripped of all due process.”

Hemmer interrupted, probably because he knew she was full of crap and that his job was to make her look sympathetic. “You’ve got eight kids, right?” Hemmer said, as if that made Hanson exempt from consequences of her law breaking. “You’re a hard-working Mom! I’m lookin’ at ya and I’m thinkin’ you did 60 days in jail!”

As the interview drew to a close, Hemmer pushed for more anti-Walz and less Hanson’s legal theories. “You say his policies are a train wreck. How?” Hemmer cued.

“Absolutely, in every way,” Hanson said. “His policies destroy the American people’s rights, the Minnesotans rights to be specific. He destroyed so many businesses in the state of Minnesota, never to open again. He destroyed so many lives in Minnesota, literally.”

“The man is a criminal,” the real criminal announced. “And he should be impeached and he should be prosecuted.

Finally, that seemed to be a bit much for Hemmer. Of course, he did not point out who really broke the law. But he said, “Well, wow, that’s really tough language. We hope to get him on and we’ll ask some questions about this and we’ll get his view on it.”

Shame on Hemmer and Lisa “Karen” Hanson.

You can watch this disgraceful excuse for a “news” segment below, from the August 14, 2024 America’s Newsroom.