by Julie Kelly
According to an exclusive posted on Axios today, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has turned over the full trove of surveillance video captured by Capitol police security cameras on January 6 to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
“Carlson TV producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove, which includes multiple camera angles from all over Capitol grounds,” Mike Allen reported. “Excerpts will begin airing in the coming weeks.”
American Greatness first reported on the massive trove of security video in May 2021. Since then, several lawmakers including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) have called for the public release of 14,000 of footage related to the events of January 6.
McCarthy told reporters on January 12 that he supported making the tapes public. “I think the American public should see all what happened instead of a report that’s written for a political basis,” McCarthy said, referring to the January 6 select committee’s final report.
In March 2021, the Justice Department designated the footage as “highly sensitive government material” subject to strict protective orders. Defendants and their lawyers have complained about lack of access to the surveillance video; a digital platform to archive all footage was delayed for months. Those protective orders, however, did not apply to House Democrats, who accessed surveillance clips to use in the second impeachment of Donald Trump and the January 6 select committee.
Further, the Justice Department claimed only 14,000 hours of video—footage from noon until 8:00 p.m. that day——was relevant to the January 6 investigation. But Axios reported Carlson’s team received 41,000 hours of video, which likely represents the full 24-hour period that Capitol Police gave to Congressional committees.
Carlson’s team of producers and researchers from his three Fox News programs—his nightly program on Fox News and two long-form shows on Fox Nation—are now combing through the raw footage. Axios reported clips will begin airing “in the coming weeks.”
Greene told American Greatness this morning she is pleased that McCarthy fulfilled his commitment to release the footage. “The two-tiered justice system and the unfair treatment of pretrial J6 defendants is one of the most important issues of our time,” Greene said in a text message. “I supported Kevin McCarthy for Speaker because of many promises he made way before the Speaker’s fight. Releasing the tapes was one of the big ones that matters to Americans. I’m so happy to prove again my voice was right.”
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.
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Julie Kelly is a political commentator and senior contributor to American Greatness. She is the author of January 6: How Democrats Used the Capitol Protest to Launch a War on Terror Against the Political Right and Disloyal Opposition: How the NeverTrump Right Tried―And Failed―To Take Down the President. Her past work can be found at The Federalist and National Review. She also has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, and Genetic Literacy Project.
Photo “Kevin McCarthy” by Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Background Photo “January 6” by Tyler Merbler. CC BY 2.0.
