Members of Congress and the media are up in arms with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for granting Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
According to CNN, attorney Charles Tobin sent a letter on behalf of several news outlets to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel demanding that Congress grant several media outlets access to the Jan. 6 tapes.
This week, McCarthy doubled down on his actions and stated that he will share the footage with the public very soon; however, he agreed to give Carlson exclusivity, the Associated Press reported.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Jeffries told theGrio that McCarthy’s decision to share the footage was “irresponsible.”
“House Democrats have been pretty clear that providing security footage in a manner that would jeopardize protocols, the safety, the well-being of everyone who serves in this Capitol…is an irresponsible thing,” he said.
In a public statement, Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said, “[McCarthy] owes the American people an explanation.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the Jan. 6 panel, condemned McCarthy’s actions in a tweet.
“McCarthy gave 1/6 footage to propagandist Tucker Carlson to edit for his fake-news ‘Patriot Purge’ dogma. But America knows Trump’s mob assaulted Congress, chanted ‘hang Mike Pence,’ and nearly toppled our election. Can Putin’s PR team work a Stalinist rewrite,” he wrote.
The caption was accompanied by a snippet from Raskin’s appearance on an episode of MSNBC’s “The Reid Out” hosted by Joy Reid.
In the video, he asserted that McCarthy released footage to Fox News to further perpetuate a conspiracy theory and spread “disinformation and propaganda.”
Raskin and many others…
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