Yesterday Axios broke the story that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Tucker Carlson’s Fox News producers access to the 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance video from the riot and preceding days. In Axios’s story Mike Allen stated that “[t]he archive was previously reported to be 14,000 hours. I’m told it’s now much more.” Tucker Carlson himself announced that his producers were reviewing the video on his show last night and used the larger number, if I’m not mistaken.
Why wasn’t the footage made available earlier? I think that former Speaker Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues wanted to keep tight control of the “insurrection” narrative. Now Axios is referring to the Jan. 6 episode as “the riot.” What happened?
Nerves must be fraying on the Democratic side. Today Axios quotes former senior staff member and Jan. 6 Committee spokesman Tim Mulvey: “When the January 6th Select Committee obtained access to U.S. 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.”
A McCarthy spokesman replied: “Unlike the previous Democrat majority, the House Republicans will treat the issue of the security of the Capitol separate from partisan political interests.” Advantage: McCarthy.
But wait! There’s more, via Nick Arama/RedState. You can feel the flop sweat breaking out on the brow of the shiftless Adam Schiff. Is he trying to parody himself? It’s almost funny.
Kevin McCarthy turned over Jan 6 videos to right-wing propagandist Tucker Carlson.
A man who spews Kremlin talking points. Suggests Jan 6 was a false flag. And spreads the Big Lie.
Make no mistake: This isn’t about transparency, it’s about fueling dangerous conspiracy theories.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 20, 2023
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