Samuel Case, FISM News
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) appear at odds over Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s recent coverage of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
On Monday, Carlson aired exclusive security footage, depicting Capitol police escorting Jacob Chansley, popularly referred to as “QAnon Shaman,” through the capitol building. The Fox host described the police as “tour guides.”
Carlson also showed footage of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died of a stroke hours after the riot, “walking normally” after being struck on the head with a fire extinguisher by rioters. Previous reporting claimed Sicknick’s death was directly connected to the riot.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters on Tuesday he backed the Capitol Police chief, Tom Manger’s, criticisms of Carlson’s coverage as being “filled with offensive and misleading conclusions about the Jan. 6 attack.”
BREAKING: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls it a "mistake" for Tucker Carlson and Fox News to release the never-before-seen J6 footage. pic.twitter.com/8d2c75Z3eK
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 7, 2023
Manger said Carlson “cherry-picked” footage to show the riot as calmer than it actually was.
“Those officers did their best to use de-escalation tactics to try to talk rioters into getting each other to leave the building,” he said of the footage with Chansely and described Carlson’s coverage of Sicknick as “disturbing.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy is defending his decision to grant Carlson access to over 40,000 hours of security footage.
“I said at the very beginning, ‘transparency,’” McCarthy told reporters who asked if regretted giving Carlson access to the footage. “And so what I wanted to produce for everybody is exactly what I said, people can actually look at it and see what’s gone on that day.”
Reporter: Do you regret giving Tucker Carlson the Jan. 6 footage?
Kevin McCarthy: "No, I said at the very beginning, transparency and so what I want to produce for everybody is exactly what I said, that people could actually look at it and see what's going on that day." pic.twitter.com/PRnnzgEkvV
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 8, 2023