The Investigation of the January 6 Capitol Attack by Kevin McCarthy after the December 7th, 2018 Insurrection: CNN reveals Carlson’s access to the Capitol

CNN is reporting that Tucker Carlson was given access to Capitol security footage from January 6 by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

The highly unusual move – a House speaker handing over a massive trove of internal government materials to a friendly media outlet – comes after the California Republican faced significant pressure from his right flank to relitigate the work of the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

McCarthy promised during his campaign for speaker to hold hearings on the security failures that caused the Capitol to get overrun, and he told the select committee to preserve all of its records for future review by the GOP majority.

Carlson stated that the video record did not support the claim that January 6th was an insurrection. It completely demolishes that claim.

There are still discussions between the Capitol Police and Congress about what restrictions should be put on the video and it is not certain how much of a role the Capitol Police will have in Carlson’s video. The conservative host pushed conspiracy theories about the attack and downplayed the violence of Trump supporters, causing widespread concerns.

At a press conference last month, McCarthy said that he supported the release of the full January 6 security footage. The public should be able to see what happened.

The security of lawmakers, staff and the Capitol complex was a concern when the January 6th Select Committee obtained access to US Capitol Police video footage. Only members and a few investigators, and senior staff, had access, and the public use of the footage was coordinated in advance with Capitol Police.

The former chair of the January 6 committee, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said in a statement that McCarthy owed the American people an explanation if he granted Carlson access.

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January 6 defendants have access to thousands of hours of unreleased footage from the attack, as well from an online database, but the videos are tightly controlled by a protective order and defendants are not allowed to publicly release the clips.

“Once the capabilities of a U.S. Capitol interior surveillance camera, including its position and whether it pans, tilts or zooms, is disclosed to the public via the release of a single video from that camera, the cat is out of the bag,” Justice Department prosecutors wrote in a July 2021 court filing.

“I was asked in the press about these tapes, and I said they do belong to the American public. sunshine lets everybody make their own decision, he told the Times.

McCarthy is hoping that outsourcing this work to the media will be a way to appease his right flank without upsetting his moderates and majority makers.

Schumer said that McCarthy’s decision to give the footage to Carlson was a sham because it was about making a statement to the MAGA voters.

Yet there’s little in McCarthy’s past as a Republican leader that suggests he has such political dexterity. And the most riotous members of the House GOP seem highly unlikely to accept McCarthy’s concessions and fall in line. The ideology of some of the political and media partners that he is courting does not suggest they would willingly cede their power to him.

Several high-profile Democrats were dumped from key panels because of their conservative views, the Republican in California gave plum committee assignments to some hard-right House members, launched an investigation into the “weaponization” of government against Republicans, and gave a pass to one Georgia lawmaker. He refused to demand the resignation of New York congressman George Santos, who is an embarrassment but still important to the Republican Party.

He is not releasing them to the American people so anyone can see them, at least not yet. The conservative TV host who is being offered access to is very public with his agenda. Had he wanted to create that ray of sunshine, McCarthy could have posted them online, tasked congressional committees to examine them or invited other media outlets to also view them.

The entire episode talked about McCarthy more than Carlson did. Carlson was able to rewrite the events of the day in which the country’s citadel of democracy was attacked thanks to McCarthy. Those events were inspired by the very same election denying rhetoric the right-wing talk channel that pays Carlson’s handsome multi-million salary gave platform to in the wake of the 2020 contest.

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In a sign of growing trouble, a border security bill that McCarthy had hoped to pass early in the new Congress is still in limbo after moderates voiced fierce opposition to a three-page draft drawn up by conservative Rep. Chip Roy from Texas. The fatal flaw in the GOP majority is that the right-wingers and the moderates both won seats in states where they could face difficult reelection bids.

CNN also reported this week on bitter splits between factions of the GOP on the question of more aid for Ukraine. McCarthy has tried to finesse this divide by saying he favors support for the Kyiv government but is also against a “blank check” for President Volodymyr Zelensky – in a nod to lawmakers like Gaetz and Greene who oppose multi-billion dollar US aid packages. The speaker’s position is allowing him to avoid alienating either faction so far, but it will come under fierce pressure when massive requests for arms and ammunition for Ukraine arrive on Capitol Hill.

McCarthy is facing a dire situation on the debt ceiling fight with Biden, because he may not be able to raise the borrowing authority in time. If the authority is not granted by Congress, the US could default on its obligations, shredding its credit rating and throwing the American and global economies into turmoil. But McCarthy is standing with the most radical members of his conference who are demanding huge spending cuts, which Biden has refused to accept, in order to lift the debt ceiling.

The California Republican may end up with a fateful choice between backing the lawmakers who elected him speaker and crashing the economy, since, if he tried to grant Biden such authority by using some Democratic votes, it’s possible he’d be toppled.

Others questioned how long the footage is going to be dragged out in the press, with some lawmakers concerned about the optics of appearing to try to downplay a deadly insurrection in the US Capitol.

Greene, who was not in the Monday night meeting, said she’s spoken with McCarthy, and that the speaker’s office is coordinating a process for how to release the footage more widely, beyond Fox News, while also ensuring it doesn’t violate any security concerns.

CNN, along with a group of other media organizations, has signed on to a letter calling for congressional leaders to grant access to the security footage from the riot.

“Unlike Democrats, we do work very effectively with the Capitol Police. And we respect people who work in law enforcement. This is about transparency.

But one of his closest allies – Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who also has downplayed the January 6 attack – backed his decision to give the footage to Carlson. She wouldn’t go into further detail, but she said she played a role in McCarthy turning the footage over to Carlson.

Everyone in Congress agrees that we can not give away our national security. I think the American people agree with me. We don’t want Russia or China or any of these other countries being able to study all the entries and exits of our capital. That is foolish.

The Carlson team was given certain parameters for what it could and couldn’t air. “Yes … of course (there were parameters) they’re being extremely careful and responsible.”

Gaetz did not say why he was trying to encourage McCarthy to vote for the speakership, but he did say that he had told the speaker to release the footage.

“But I look forward to talking to him this week and further about figuring out an approach that makes sense and respects the security concerns that many members have articulated in the House,” Jeffries said of the speaker.

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A source familiar with the matter said that the Democrats are waiting to see what happens when the footage is released before a decision is made on whether the media should have access to it.

In the wake of the violence that took place at the U.S. Capitol in the wake of the 2020 election, the Face of Fox News is trying everything he can to make them forget about it.

Tucker Carlson used the footage from Monday night to show people breaking into the U.S. Capitol who were mostly peaceful patriots who felt wronged by the system. Carlson, who falsely claimed the footage provided “conclusive” evidence proving Democrats “lied” about the events of January 6, aired footage showing some people taking selfies and meandering through the U.S. Capitol.

The article was first published in theReliable Sources newsletter. The daily digest will chronicle the evolving media landscape here.

The ideas were once thought to be extreme, confined to the fringes of the right-wing media where Alex Jones spun fantasies for his audience. But now it’s available every night at 8pm for millions to watch, courtesy of the highest-rated cable channel — and, more importantly, the Republican Party’s de-facto kingmaker.

McCarthy believes that playing with the Fox News extremist will end Carlson’s brutal attacks against him and he thinks that will curry favor with him. It looks like it worked for the moment with Carlson giving praise for McCarthy on Monday night.

But the result of the House speaker’s actions will undoubtedly be a muddying of the waters on a key and defining moment in American history, reigniting the far-right’s information war on the truth in hopes of cleansing its actions in the lead up to January 6.