McConnell Rebukes Tucker’s J6 Footage Release

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday rebuked Daily Caller co-founder and Fox News Host Tucker Carlson’s release of footage from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Carlson received more than 40,000 hours of riot footage from Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and began releasing it Monday night.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger slammed Carlson for releasing the footage and for allegedly spreading “offensive and misleading conclusions” about the riot. Manger also accused Carlson of making a “disturbing accusation” that officer Brian Sicknick’s death was not due to the riot. A medical examiner ruled that Sicknick died from natural causes after suffering two strokes following the riots.

McConnell held up an internal letter from Manger which claimed that the footage was “conveniently cherry-picked from the calmer moments of our 41,000 hours of video.”

“With regard to the presentation on Fox News last night, I want to associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of Capitol Police about what happened on January 6,” McConnell said. “My concern is how it was depicted, which is a different issue. It was a mistake, in my view, for Fox News to depict this in a way that’s completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks.” (RELATED: Newly Released Footage Shows Unedited Version Of Hawley Leaving Capitol)

McConnell says it was a “mistake” for Tucker Carlson to release previously unseen J6 footage. pic.twitter.com/RmaIu888Qv

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 7, 2023

McConnell refused to criticize McCarthy for handing over the footage.