Two days after news broke that Fox News host Tucker Carlson received access to tens of thousands of hours of January 6 U.S. Capitol surveillance footage, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) opened up about why he made the disclosure.
“I promised,” McCarthy told The New York Times on Wednesday. “I was asked in the press about these tapes, and I said they do belong to the American public. I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment.”
The speaker said last month he was looking to release the tapes because of the “politicization” he believed had been fostered by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the January 6 Committee, which focused heavily on former President Donald Trump in its investigation and final report, but McCarthy did not divulge how he was planning to do so.
Axios first reported on Monday that McCarthy shared with Carlson 41,000 hours of surveillance footage from January 6, 2021, the day a crowd of people entered the U.S. Capitol, disrupting lawmakers who were meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. A Fox News spokesperson told The Daily Wire that the report from Axios was accurate.
