House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) said the press seems “jealous’ that he gave Fox News host Tucker Carlson exclusive access to hours of footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“It almost seems like the press is jealous,” McCarthy told The Washington Post in an interview on Wednesday. “And that’s interesting because every person in the press works off exclusives on certain things.
“People like exclusives, and Tucker is someone that’s been asking for it,” he added. “So I let him come in and see it, but everyone’s going to get it.”
Last month, McCarthy handed over 41,000 hours of security footage from the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot to Carlson who has downplayed the attack. The move raised concerns that Carlson might manipulate the footage to fit his narrative.
Several media outlets wrote to the McCarthy asking for the same kind of access.
“Without full public access to the complete historical record, there is concern that an ideologically-based narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness, with destabilizing risks to the legitimacy of Congress, the Capitol Police, and the various federal investigations and prosecutions of Jan. 6 crimes,” the letter said.
Democrats have also expressed concerns that allowing broad access to the footage could raise security risks by revealing the locations of cameras on the Capitol complex, according to The Post.
McCarthy told The Post that the footage will be released broadly and that his office is taking measures to address concerns about security risks.
