House Speaker McCarthy gives Tucker Carlson exclusive access to Jan. 6 riot footage

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has exclusively provided a massive trove of U.S. Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has downplayed the deadly violence that occurred that day and claimed it was a “false flag” operation.

McCarthy has declined to comment on the unprecedented move, but Carlson said Monday night on his program that his producers have been granted “unfettered” access to security video when hundreds of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. Five people died as a result of the attack, and 140 members of law enforcement were injured as the mob used flagpoles, bear spray, baseball bats, and other weapons to bludgeon police.

“So there’s about 44,000 hours, and we have — you may have read today — been granted access to that,” Carlson said. “… We believe we have secured the right to see whatever we want to see. We’ve been there about a week. Our producers, some of our smartest producers, have been looking at this stuff and trying to figure out what it means and how it contradicts or not the story we’ve been told for more than two years. We think already in some ways that it does contradict that story.”

Carlson said his producers would spend the rest of the week assessing the video and air what they found next week.

The decision by McCarthy, who has not spoken publicly or responded to questions about the release, was first reported by Axios.

Carlson, the network’s most-watched prime-time host, has repeatedly cast doubt on official accounts of what happened on Jan. 6 unearthed last year by the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot. Instead, he has repeated baseless theories that the federal government instigated the attack and blasted the committee, at one point giving airtime to Donald Trump’s former strategist Stephen Bannon hours after he had been convicted of contempt. Carlson produced a three-part documentary, Patriot Purge, that expounded the false conjecture that FBI operatives were behind the assault and maintained that the Jan. 6 rioters “don’t look like terrorists — they look like tourists.”

The decision by McCarthy to provide the video to Carlson raised questions about whether the release of the footage would force the U.S. Capitol Police to change the location of security cameras and why the speaker would give the material to a Fox News host who has peddled conspiracy theories about the attack, rather than share it with other news organizations.

McCarthy, who made numerous concessions to the far-right flank in his GOP conference to win enough votes to become speaker, has said that Republicans would investigate the work of the bipartisan Jan. 6 committee. McCarthy also vowed that Republicans would launch their own inquiry into “why the Capitol complex was not secure” on that day.

Shortly after the Axios report, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.), a McCarthy ally who has called those facing charges for the Jan. 6 attack “political prisoners,” hailed the decision to provide the footage solely to Carlson.

“Get ready for the truth from J6 because the video tapes are coming!” she tweeted on Monday. She also wrote: “I’m very happy to be right again in my support for Kevin McCarthy as our Speaker.”

Former President Donald Trump often has tried to blame then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) for the breach of the Capitol, falsely suggesting that the absence of enough security to turn back the pro-Trump mob was her responsibility, not that of the commander in chief. He also has falsely claimed Pelosi rejected his order for 10,000 National Guard troops — something that never happened.

McCarthy told reporters last month that he supported the idea of more footage from the Jan. 6 attack being made public. “I think the public should see what has happened on that,” he said.

Questioned about the video footage, Tom Manger, chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, said Tuesday: “When congressional leadership or oversight committees ask for things like this, we have no choice but to give it to them.”

McCarthy’s decision to provide Carlson with the video drew harsh criticism over the security risks of handing over footage that could contain information about the Capitol’s complex security apparatus.

In a letter to fellow Democrats, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) said party members were working to learn more about the “egregious security breach.”

“I write with respect to public reports that extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have provided tens of thousands of hours of sensitive Capitol security footage to a FOX News personality who regularly peddles in conspiracy theories and Pro-Putin rhetoric,” he wrote on Tuesday, referring to Carlson. “The apparent transfer of video footage represents an egregious security breach that endangers the hardworking women and men of the United States Capitol Police, who valiantly defended our democracy with their lives at risk on that fateful day.”

Jeffries said House Democrats would hold their virtual caucus meeting on Wednesday with presentations from Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who was chairman of the Jan. 6 committee and is the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security panel, and Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee.

Thompson said Monday that there could be major security risks if the material were used irresponsibly.

“If Speaker McCarthy has indeed granted Tucker Carlson — a Fox host who routinely spreads misinformation and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s poisonous propaganda — and his producers access to this sensitive footage, he owes the American people an explanation of why he has done so and what steps he has taken to address the significant security concerns at stake,” Thompson said in a statement.

Tim Mulvey, a former senior staff member and spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee, said in a statement that when the panel obtained access to Capitol Police video footage, “it was treated with great sensitivity given concerns about the security of lawmakers, staff, and the Capitol complex. Access was limited to members and a small handful of investigators and senior staff, and the public use of any footage was coordinated in advance with Capitol Police. It’s hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were used irresponsibly.”