Here’s what happened…
On Monday (February 20), Axios broke the story that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA.) granted Fox News host Tucker Carlson and his team access to 41,000 hours of January 6 riot footage.
Later on Monday, a Fox News spokesperson confirmed the report’s accuracy.
The revelation comes about a month after McCarthy shared his support for the public having access to more footage from the January 6 attack during a press conference.
During that press conference, McCarthy also accused Democrats of politicizing the probe into the January 6 attack.
Although the House panel investigating the January 6 Capitol attack included two Republicans, most Republicans view the panel as partisan, given both members were fervent Trump critics.
While discussing the footage with reporters during the January press conference, McCarthy told reporters, “I think the public should see what has happened on that.”
The House Speaker claimed the information available to the public had been politicized, adding that the “American public should actually see all that happened instead of a report that’s written for a political basis.”
As Fox News’s top-rated prime-time host, Carlson produced a documentary series, “Patriot Purge,” which purportedly tells an alternative story of January 6.
The docuseries, which led to two contributors leaving the network in protest, included at least one subject who suggests the insurrection was a “false flag” event. Carlson has also questioned the accuracy of the House panel’s retelling, calling it “propaganda.”
Others in the GOP have also called for more footage to be released, with Rep. Matt Gaetz appearing on Carlson’s program to lend his support to more footage of January 6 being released.