In Friday's edition of The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly browbeat Fox News contributor Leslie Marshall for daring to point out the connections between the Koch Brothers and the Tea Party.

O'Reilly claimed that Occupy Wall Street “is not a spontaneous protest,” but rather is linked to “George Soros, MoveOn, the SEIC [sic], and many far-left journalists.” Marshall responded to O'Reilly's claims by pointing out the links between the Koch brothers and the Tea Party, a comment that O'Reilly did not appreciate.

MARSHALL: Well first of all Bill, any organization, any movement, any protest is going to be exploited to use your term by somebody. Whether it be the Koch brothers with the Tea Party on the right, George Soros with the Occupy Wall Street Movement on the left.

I would say Bill that you are giving the movement, in a sense, more power when you're talking about this -- not just demonizing but anarchy and the real agenda, the real goal. I really believe that the real agenda and the real goal and the majority of these people are just that -- people that are frustrated with the disparity in wages, are frustrated by the constant reports even this week that the rich are getting richer, they're frustrated by the current state of the country and the government.

O'REILLY: Well, you can believe in anything you want, you're an American. But you made a statement that the Koch brothers are tied into the Tea Party financially. Can you prove that?

MARSHALL: No, well the Koch brothers did fund Tea Party candidates such as Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin.

O'REILLY: Leslie, Leslie, you are a Fox News contributor, you have a responsibility. Can you prove that the Koch brothers are tied into the Tea Party financially? Can you?

MARSHALL: With a check in hand, no. But --

O'REILLY: Thank you. Thank you --

MARSHALL: The Koch brothers have never denied the financial trail.

O'REILLY: Your turn is over, Leslie. Your turn is over. We'll get back. And I want to remind you not to make statements you can't back up on this network. We don't do that on this network. Other networks do. We don't.

This is not O'Reilly's first attempt to cover up the Koch-Tea Party connection. But no matter how much O'Reilly protests, the Tea Party and the Koch brothers are closely linked.

In August, 2010, New Yorker's Jane Mayer wrote that Americans for Prosperity, a foundation established by David Koch, “has worked closely with the Tea Party since the movement's inception” and “helped turn [the Koch brothers'] private agenda into a mass movement.” From the New Yorker article titled “Covert Operations”:

Americans for Prosperity has worked closely with the Tea Party since the movement's inception. In the weeks before the first Tax Day protests, in April, 2009, Americans for Prosperity hosted a Web site offering supporters “Tea Party Talking Points.” The Arizona branch urged people to send tea bags to Obama; the Missouri branch urged members to sign up for “Taxpayer Tea Party Registration” and provided directions to nine protests. The group continues to stoke the rebellion. The North Carolina branch recently launched a “Tea Party Finder” Web site, advertised as “a hub for all the Tea Parties in North Carolina.”

The anti-government fervor infusing the 2010 elections represents a political triumph for the Kochs. By giving money to “educate,” fund, and organize Tea Party protesters, they have helped turn their private agenda into a mass movement. Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist and a historian, who once worked at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a Dallas-based think tank that the Kochs fund, said, “The problem with the whole libertarian movement is that it's been all chiefs and no Indians. There haven't been any actual people, like voters, who give a crap about it. So the problem for the Kochs has been trying to create a movement.” With the emergence of the Tea Party, he said, “everyone suddenly sees that for the first time there are Indians out there -- people who can provide real ideological power.” The Kochs, he said, are “trying to shape and control and channel the populist uprising into their own policies.”

A Republican campaign consultant who has done research on behalf of Charles and David Koch said of the Tea Party, “The Koch brothers gave the money that founded it. It's like they put the seeds in the ground. Then the rainstorm comes, and the frogs come out of the mud -- and they're our candidates!”

Moreover, in a Bloomberg Television presentation of “Game Changers,” which profiles the Koch Brothers, Bloomberg Washington, D.C. Executive Editor Al Hunt said that Charles and David Koch are very influential, not forthcoming, and “more active than ever.” According to Hunt, the Kochs' “philosophical, personal and political agenda” often overlaps with the “corporate agenda” of their “far-flung energy empire.” Bloomberg promoted the program by describing the Koch brothers by stating: “Using their immense wealth to shake up the game of politics, they've spent millions to found and fund think tanks and PACs. Along the way, they've laid the groundwork for the rise of the Tea Party, ensuring that American politics will never be the same.”

In addition, Tea Party-supported candidates that took office following the 2010 elections have retained their links to the Koch brothers. In June, The Miami Herald reported Florida Governor Rick Scott (R-FL) flew to Colorado “to attend a secretive policy retreat hosted by powerful conservative donors Charles and David Koch.” Other elected officials at the retreat included: Texas Governor Rick Perry, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Scott's staff had previously refused to disclose the governor's plan to attend the retreat.

Moreover, in February, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker had taken a strategy call from someone who posed as David Koch. During the phone conversation, the caller and Walker discussed potential strategies regarding the best way to continue Walker's attempts at passing union-busting legislation. Although the phone call was a prank call, it revealed, at minimum, the influence of the Koch brothers over Walker.

Finally, regarding O'Reilly's claims that Occupy Wall Street is linked to far-left journalists, maybe O'Reilly should take a look at his own network. After all in the days leading up to the Tea Party Tax Day protests in April 2009, Fox News aired at least 20 segments and 73 promos on the tax day protests and encouraged their viewers to take part.

Fox's so-called “straight news” anchors and sister organization, Fox Business, also promoted the events and urged viewers to join the protests and visit tea party websites. The network even aired on-screen text describing the protests that Fox news hosts would be attending as “FNC Tax Day Tea Parties.”

The hype led Fox News hosts to participate in over a dozen Tea Party events between April 14-17, 2010, the week of the Tea Party's Tax Day protests. Fox's involvement can also be seen in Tea Party activist Sal Russo's statement that "[t]here would not have been a tea party without Fox."