Release of Jan. 6 video footage to Tucker Carlson is a five-alarm fire for Democrats

House Speaker
Kevin McCarthy
’s decision to hand over security footage from the
Jan. 6 Capitol riot
to Fox News host Tucker Carlson has Democrats up in arms.

For two years, Democrats, citing “security concerns,” have managed to withhold this critical footage from the public, likely fearing it would contradict their carefully constructed narrative that the riot had been “an insurrection” and “terrorist attack.”

Democrats are especially peeved with whom McCarthy chose to provide the material to. They consider it an attempt to curry favor with Carlson, who has been openly critical of the GOP leader in the past. And while that may very well be true, there’s no question that Democrats’ main problem with Carlson is that he has repeatedly questioned the decisions, actions, and motives of the Department of Justice, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the House Jan. 6 committee.

NONAPOLOGIES AND DELUSIONS

Specifically, he’s asked why Pelosi and Bowser declined then-President Donald Trump’s offer of National Guard troops to protect the Capitol building after intelligence reports warned of the potential for violence. He has also publicly speculated about the role played by protester Ray Epps, who appeared to be a ringleader during the riot. Carlson has questioned his possible links to the FBI and why he was never prosecuted.

Congenital liar and member of the Jan. 6 committee Rep.
Adam Schiff
(D-CA) was outraged by McCarthy’s decision. In a Monday Twitter post, he


wrote
, “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.”

This is coming from the man who spent three years trying to convince the public that Trump was a Russian agent. He never missed an opportunity to assure anyone who would listen that evidence of Trump’s collusion with Russia was hiding in “plain sight.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was equally horrified over McCarthy’s move.

In a Wednesday


letter
to his colleagues, Schumer wrote, “The speaker is needlessly exposing the Capitol complex to one of the worst security risks since 9/11. The footage Speaker McCarthy is making available to Fox News is a treasure trove of closely held information about how the Capitol complex is protected and its public release would compromise the safety of the Legislative Branch and allow those who want to commit another attack to learn how Congress is safeguarded.”

He wrote that McCarthy only agreed to release the tapes “to get the votes he needed from the MAGA wing of the House Republican Conference to become speaker.” That also may be true, but McCarthy’s motives are irrelevant. What is relevant is that Republicans finally have a chance to launch their own investigation into the Capitol riot.

Schumer is certain that “Carlson will select only clips that he can use to twist the facts to sow doubt of what happened on January 6 and feed into the propaganda.”

But isn’t that precisely what the Jan. 6 congressional committee did?

The Washington Post published an article


titled
, “Letting Tucker Carlson cherry-pick Jan. 6 footage is a very, very bad idea.” Was it a good idea to appoint a committee composed of seven Democrats plus the two Republicans in Congress who hated Trump the most? Members had reached their conclusion before the investigation had even begun.

Indeed, Democrats were never interested in a thorough investigation of the events on Jan. 6. The actions of the partisan Jan. 6 congressional committee made that much clear. Starting with Pelosi’s decision to boot Republican Reps.
Jim Jordan
(OH) and Jim Banks (IN) from the committee, the investigation that ensued was nothing more than a highly partisan witch hunt designed to prevent Trump from running for public office again. Several Democrats on the committee even admitted as much.

Axios reported that members of Carlson’s team have already begun sifting through the thousands of hours of video. Asked for a comment on the story, Carlson


said
, “There was never any legitimate reason for this footage to remain secret. If there was ever a question that’s in the public’s interest to know, it’s what actually happened on Jan. 6. By definition, this video will reveal it. It’s impossible for me to understand why any honest person would be bothered by that.”

American Greatness reporter Julie Kelly has followed this story closely. She has written extensively about the Justice Department’s obsessive and eagle-like scrutiny of people determined to have set foot anywhere near the Capitol building that day and the agency’s determination to prosecute people “
at any level
.”

What can we expect to learn from the new footage? Kelly wrote, “The secret video could finally show the use of undercover agents and informants both inside and outside the Capitol as well as those responsible for erecting the ‘gallows’ on Capitol grounds. Footage will also shed light on how photographers and videographers were stationed in key locations before the breach occurred.”

At any rate, according to Axios, clips from the trove of surveillance camera footage could begin airing as soon as next week. Fasten your seat belts.

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Elizabeth Stauffer is a contributor to the
Washington Examiner
and the
Western Journal
. Her articles have appeared at MSN, RedState, Newsmax, the Federalist, and RealClearPolitics. Follow her on 
Twitter
 or 
LinkedIn
.