Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is standing by his decision to release thousands of hours of January 6 footage to Tucker Carlson, even after intense media pressure provoked by Carlson broadcast clips from the day that seem to contradict the official narrative.
Speaking to a press pool today, McCarthy was defiant when asked if he regrets releasing the video to Carlson.
“No, I said at the very beginning, ‘transparency,'” McCarthy began. “What I wanted to produce for everybody is exactly what I said, that people could actually look at it and see what went on that day.”
Asked if he believes Carlson’s version of events are correct, McCarthy declared, “Each person can come up with their own conclusion, but what I want to make sure is that I have transparency.”
Kevin McCarthy TAKES A SLEDGEHAMMER to entire crowd of Fake News reporters— They meltdown into literal SCREAMING after he DEFENDS Tucker for J6 tapes release, obliterates CNN
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 8, 2023
McCarthy then noted that security was a secondary concern, and accused CNN of permanently violating the security of Congress by reporting where legislators were sent to wait out the civil unrest on January 6, 2021.
“CNN,” noted McCarthy, “you guys actually broke where we were. This is a secret location” He added, “I don’t even know if, from the point of security, if we could ever be taken there again.”
McCarthy also stood by Carlson when questioned about the death of Brian Sicknick, a Capitol police officer who died after January 6, with media reports linking his death to an aerosol crowd control spray.
The Speaker called the death “tragic,” but doubled down: “I had a real concern also when I wanted to make sure transparency. ”
When questioned on whether his decision to release the video to Carlson was part of the days-long horse trading that transpired before McCarthy attained the Speaker’s seat, McCarthy denied the rumors and instead pointed to the months-long Democratic public relations campaign waged by the January 6 committee last year.
Image: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
“I’ve watched the January 6 committee,” said McCarthy, “the minority side wasn’t allowed to put people on.” McCarthy reiterated, “What I tried to do is be able to release the information, which we’ll give to everybody.”
Turning back to the issue of security, McCarthy noted that he worked with Capitol Police more than the January 6 committee before releasing the video.
“I worked with the Capitol Police, I asked them for any clips on the way that they had concern with the security level. Only one of the clips did, we were able to change that.”
“An interesting thing the Capitol Police told us when we went through this,” noted McCarthy, “is that January 6 [Committee] never asked them about that, for security.”
