New York Post

Why Dems dread 1/6 reveal

- Miranda Devine mdevine@nypost.com

DEMOCRATS have been running around like decapitate­d chickens ever since news broke that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Tucker Carlson unfettered access to surveillan­ce footage from inside the Capitol during the Jan. 6. 2021, riot by Donald Trump supporters.

The Fox News host will air five stories culled from the footage Monday and Tuesday nights, countering the overblown “insurrecti­on” narrative the Democrats and their media toadies have been pushing since Day One.

The characteri­zation of conservati­ve Republican­s as an “ultra-MAGA semi-fascist” menace to democracy was pushed by the partisan Jan. 6 committee and was the Democrats’ main sales pitch at the midterms last year.

Dems don’t have much else to run with in 2024, so Carlson’s factfindin­g mission is an existentia­l threat to their electoral prospects.

That’s why they are hyperbolic­ally accusing McCarthy of endangerin­g the security of the House, and handing the tools for “the next insurrecti­on” to Carlson who, it won’t surprise you to learn, they fantasize is a Russian sleeper agent.

Emotional editing

But when you see what Carlson’s team has put together over the past two weeks of combing through thousands of hours of video, you will be struck by how different the reality was inside the building that day compared to the committee’s deceptivel­y edited prime-time dramas, produced by a former ABC News president for maximum emotional impact.

For instance, Carlson’s team says the committee added audio to silent CCTV footage, inserting screams and other crowd mayhem sounds, to make it seem more ominous. The bookmarks on the video trove show the committee had access to the same footage yet chose to show America only what suited its divisive narrative.

There’s no sugar coating what happened that day; Jan. 6, 2021, was shocking and violent in parts. It remains a stain on the nation, but it was not an “insurrecti­on” or a “terrorist” attack.

It was not the “greatest threat” to American democracy since the Civil War, as Joe Biden claims. It was not worse than 9/11. The only people who died that day were Trump supporters.

Despite the biggest investigat­ion in FBI history — overkill for sure — no one has been charged with “insurrecti­on” and there is no evidence of any organized plot to overturn the presidenti­al election result. Proceeding­s resumed a few hours late and Biden’s victory was certified.

It was an ugly explosion of mob anger, but it lasted mere hours, compared to the months of deadly mayhem that engulfed the country before the 2020 election.

Yet the American public has been subjected to a campaign of lies about Jan. 6 with cherrypick­ed video played on a loop for over two years of violent Trump supporters smashing windows.

We have been told the lie that police officers were killed when not a single one was. Brian Sicknick died the next day of a stroke.

It has been a nonstop, one-sided propaganda campaign while Democrats dominated every lever of power in Washington.

But now the GOP controls the House, it’s time for transparen­cy, and that is what McCarthy has delivered.

Carlson will show the counternar­rative so that the American public gets a more balanced idea of what happened that day.

He will demonstrat­e that the committee twisted everything.

He will show hundreds of peaceful people inside the Capitol behaving like tourists, queuing politely, walking within the rope lines, taking selfies, stopping to pick up an overturned bollard, all while police look on.

Most strikingly, you will see for the first time the truth about the so-called Qanon Shaman, Jacob Chansley.

This is the guy with the horns and face paint who became the poster child of Jan. 6 villainy, and yet when you watch his journey through the Capitol you will be shocked that he is serving 3¹/₂ years in jail for “obstructin­g an official proceeding.”

How many other harmless Americans were sacrificed to a federal justice system perverted in the cause of a political lie?

Now it’s a security risk?

That’s why Democrats are so frightened. Their edifice of lies is about to tumble and all they have left is to throw mud in the hope half the country will stay in the dark. Defaming Carlson is their favorite tactic.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told MSNBC’s Joy Reid that it was a “serious security risk” to give the tapes to Carlson because he is “pro-[Vladimir] Putin . . . that really is out of Putin’s playbook.”

As usual, Raskin’s Russia collusion allusions make no sense, but he seems to be saying that the Russian president will somehow watch Carlson’s program and learn how to attack the Capitol. “The reason all of [the footage] wasn’t released is precisely because floor design, it lays out evacuation routes, it lays out where the vice president went, it lays out where the senior members of Congress were evacuated,” said Raskin. What a joke.

Firstly, Carlson’s team has been meticulous about anticipati­ng security concerns and the footage they use will be vetted by the House before it airs.

Secondly, the committee showed endless footage of thenVice President Mike Pence and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley being evacuated, plus scenes from inside McCarthy’s office as his staffers prepared to flee. No security concerns there?

Thirdly, Nancy Pelosi’s filmmaker daughter appears to have been given access to the footage to make a documentar­y.

Carlson’s program has been far more responsibl­e and prudent.

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