Suspect in Fox Christmas tree arson released without bail

On the night of December 7, a scary scene unfolded outside the Fox News headquarters in midtown New York, as the large artificial Christmas tree outside the building was set on fire.

Flames engulfed the tree, quickly reducing it to a mere shell of its former glory. Before long, reports the New York Post, 49-year-old Craig Tamanaha was taken into custody and charged with a number of misdemeanors, including arson, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and criminal trespass.

Under New York law, despite causing nearly $500,000 in damage, the crimes Tamahana allegedly committed do not make him eligible for bail, and he was instead granted a supervised release.

While some saw the burning of the Christmas tree merely as a criminal offense, Fox News' Tucker Carlson declared it to be an "attack on Christianity." Leaving out the fact that Christmas trees have pagan, not Christian, origins, Carlson suggested that the leniency given to tree attackers by the Biden administration shows an anti-Christian bias. He went on to call those who defile Christmas trees "anti-Christian psychopath[s]."

Tamahana has a history of crime, and was well-known to police. As the New York Post reports, he allegedly exposed himself outside the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. The man's own father described him as "a nut," adding that "mentally, he's not all there."