January 6 Tapes Released To Tucker Carlson Will Be Made Public

Topline

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) plans to release to the public the tapes of the January 6 attack on the Capitol that he recently gave to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, amid criticism from Democrats who accused the speaker of exposing the Capitol to security risks by handing over the tapes.

Key Facts

McCarthy reportedly told Republicans in a closed-door meeting Tuesday, and later confirmed to the Wall Street Journal, that he would release the tapes to “everyone,” without providing a timeline.

Earlier this month, McCarthy handed over 41,000 hours of security footage to Carlson for use in a documentary set to air in November that will push a conspiratorial, right-wing narrative about the 2021 attack, including that left-wing provocateurs, such as Antifa, provoked the violence.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) defended McCarthy on Tuesday, likening his decision to release the tapes to Carlson to the January 6 House Select Committee’s airing of January 6 footage during its public hearings.

Chief Critic

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the release of the tapes to Carlson “poses grave security risks to members of Congress and everyone who works on Capitol Hill,” he wrote in a letter to Senate Democrats last week. Schumer warned that Carlson could selectively release clips that “he can use to twist the facts” and “feed into the propaganda he’s already put on Fox News.”

Key Background

McCarthy said he “promised” to release the tapes during his campaign for House speaker, amid pressure from right-wing House members who sought to block his leadership bid, he told The New York Times in an interview last week. He also expressed plans to release the tapes to other media outlets once Fox has aired its exclusive. While it’s unclear what the tapes consist of, Republicans, including Scalise, have said the footage will be subject to a security review before its released to the public, and via Fox News, to ensure it does not expose any sensitive information.

Tangent

Carlson, who publicly promoted former President Donald Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, privately called them “absurd” and “insane,” according to court filings released earlier this month as part of a defamation suit Dominion Voting systems filed against Fox. Carlson has cast the riots—in which at least five people died—as “a forgettably minor outbreak by recent standards” that was “not an insurrection,” he wrote in a June 2022 column.

Further Reading

Speaker McCarthy Gives Tucker Carlson 41,000 Hours Of Jan. 6 Footage (Forbes)

Trump Claims ‘Total Exoneration’ In Georgia Election Probe: Here’s Why That’s Not True—And He Could Still Be Indicted Soon (Forbes)

‘Mind Blowingly Nuts’: Fox News Hosts And Execs Repeatedly Denounced 2020 Election Fraud Off-Air—Here Are Their Most Scathing Comments (Forbes)