Photo: Alamy
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is doubling down on his decision to give Fox News host Tucker Carlson over 40,000 hours of Jan. 6 video footage.
Portions of the video footage aired Monday and Tuesday, unleashing the truth of what happened within the Capitol walls as Americans watched for the first time.
Talking with reporters Wednesday, McCarthy reinforced his decision to hand over the Jan. 6 video footage and stressed the importance of transparency after being asked if he regretted giving Carlson access, The Post Millennial reported.
McCarthy replied, “No. I said at the very beginning, transparency, and so what I want to produce for everybody is exactly what I said, that people could actually look at it and see what’s gone on that day.” He added that they plan to release the video footage to “everyone.”
Responding to another reporter about Carlson’s characterization of Jan. 6, McCarthy encouraged Americans to watch the footage and make their own conclusions.
Chaos brewed after Carlson aired snippets of the 40,000-hour “insurrection” footage Monday and Tuesday night, sending Republicans and Democrats into a frenzy, as reported by RSBN.
“The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress,” Carlson stated, discrediting Democrats’ two-year misleading characterization of Jan. 6. “Instead, it shows police escorting protesters through the building, including the now-infamous QAnon Shaman.”
Jacob Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman, was sentenced to 41 months in prison for “storming the Capitol,” according to The Guardian. However, the video footage strongly disputes this claim.
Among those who criticized Carlson for releasing the footage is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Per RSBN, Schumer used the Senate floor Monday to urge Fox News and other media networks to stop airing Jan. 6 content. Carlson fired back saying, “Any information — and he did not dispute that it was accurate — that damages the storyline his party constructed and used must be squelched.”
Moreover, Schumer announced on Twitter that he was invited to appear on Tucker Carlson Tonight, which he would only do if the host “admits to his viewers live on air that he has been lying to them about the 2020 elections and about what happened on January 6th.”
The tweet attracted massive backlash from Republicans and conservative commentators, per The Post Millennial.
President Donald Trump also addressed the footage, praising Carlson and calling for the exoneration of the Jan. 6 prisoners, as reported by RSBN.
“Congratulations to Tucker Carlson on one of the biggest ‘scoops’ as a reporter in U.S. history,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The New Surveillance Footage of the January 6th Events sheds an entirely different light on what actually happened. The Unselect Committee was a giant SCAM, and has now unequivocally been stamped as CRIMINAL FABRICATORS OF THIS MOST IMPORTANT DAY. Pelosi & McConnell failed on security. The Police story is sad and difficult to watch. ‘Trump’ and most others are totally innocent, LET THEM GO FREE, NOW!”
