FOX’S CARLSON GIVEN ACCESS TO 1/6 FOOTAGE
McCarthy says move will help public make ‘their own judgment’
Thousands of hours of surveillance footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol are being made available to Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson, a stunning level of access granted by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that Democrats swiftly condemned as a “grave” breach of security with potentially far-reaching consequences.
The hard-right political commentator said his team is spending the week at the Capitol poring through the video and preparing to reveal their findings to his viewers. But granting exclusive access to sensitive Jan. 6 security footage to such a deeply partisan figure is a highly unusual move, seen by some critics as essentially outsourcing House oversight to a TV personality who has promoted conspiracy theories about the attack.
“It’s a shocking development that brings in both political concerns but even more importantly, security concerns,” said Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who was a chief counsel during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.
Many critics warn that Capitol security could be endangered if Carlson airs security footage that details how the rioters accessed the building and the routes lawmakers used to flee to safety. And a sharply partisan retelling of the Capitol attack could accelerate a dangerous
rewriting of the history of what happened Jan. 6, when Trump encouraged a mob of supporters to head to the Capitol to overturn Joe Biden’s election.
“Kevin McCarthy has turned over the security of the Capitol to Tucker Carlson and that’s a scary thought,” Goldman said.
McCarthy on Wednesday defended his decision.
“I promised,” McCarthy said in a brief phone interview. “I was asked in the press about these tapes, and I said they do belong to the American public. I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment.”
Gripping images and videos from the Capitol attack by Trump supporters have been widely circulated by documentarians, news organizations and even the rioters themselves.
But officials have held back much of the surveillance video from hundreds of security cameras stationed in and around the Capitol that offers a detailed view of the grisly scene and the brutal beatings
of police as they tried to stop the rioters.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack went through a painstaking process to work closely with the U.S. Capitol Police to review and ultimately release approved segments of the surveillance footage as part of its public hearings last year.
The chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, Tom Manger, issued a terse statement when asked about the new release of footage: “When Congressional Leadership or Congressional Oversight Committees ask for things like this, we must give it to them.”
Carlson declined Wednesday to comment on his review of the tapes, except to say that he and a large team of staff members looking at the footage were “taking it very seriously.”
Democrats have revolted at McCarthy’s decision, arguing that it is a politically driven move that risks the security of the Capitol.
In a letter to fellow Democrats on Wednesday, Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the speaker was “needlessly exposing the Capitol complex to one of the worst security risks since 9/11.”
“By handpicking Tucker Carlson, Speaker McCarthy laid bare that this sham is simply about pandering to MAGA election deniers, not the truth,” Schumer wrote. “Tucker Carlson has no fidelity to the truth or facts and has used his platform to promote the Big Lie, distort reality and espouse bogus conspiracy theories about Jan. 6.”
Some Republicans, too, said McCarthy was taking a political risk with his decision. Should Carlson use the video — through selective editing — to further false narratives, it could supercharge the appetite in the right-wing base for the continued relitigation of Jan. 6. That could force the issue onto the agenda of more House Republicans, a move that is likely to turn off swing voters.
“It helps McCarthy solidify his speakership among the right, especially those who held their vote out,” said Ron Bonjean, a veteran Republican strategist. “It shows to conservatives that he’s providing complete transparency, and that’s what Republicans have wanted for a long time. That said, if the footage is misused in some way, this could end up generating another black hole for Republicans on Jan. 6. It could cause Republicans to be wrapped around that issue, and to look backward, not forward, toward getting things done.”