House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Axios reported Monday, citing sources close to the speaker.
Carlson’s producers reportedly began reviewing the footage on Capitol Hill earlier in February, and his shows will start airing excerpts in coming weeks, according to Axios. Talks between Carlson’s show and McCarthy regarding the footage began in early February, the outlet reported. (RELATED: ‘They Won’t Protect You’: Tucker Carlson Takes On Dem Push For Gun Control)
🚨NEW in @axios AM: @SpeakerMcCarthy has given @TuckerCarlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from 1/6
Carlson producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove
📺 Excerpts begin in coming weeks https://t.co/cJmD6MGsWE
— Mike Allen (@mikeallen) February 20, 2023
“If there was ever a question that’s in the public’s interest to know, it’s what actually happened on January 6. By definition, this video will reveal it. It’s impossible for me to understand why any honest person would be bothered by that,” Carlson told Axios.
Carlson in 2021 released a documentary series about the Jan. 6 riot, alleging the attack was a false flag operation to frame Trump supporters.
McCarthy previously promised to make the footage public. “I think the American public should actually see all what happened instead of a report that’s written for a political basis,” McCarthy said at a press conference Jan. 12, days after he was elected speaker on the 15th ballot.
The footage includes multiple angles of the Capitol grounds, Axios reported. The January 6th House Select Committee already broadcast portions of the footage during its 2022 primetime hearings. Earlier reports said the tapes contained 14,000 hours’ worth of material, much less than current estimates, according to the outlet.