In a controversial move that some have linked to promises he made to far right GOP congressional members in order to secure the speakership, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy gave thousands of hours of video from the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol to Fox News and Tucker Carlson. (Note: McCarthy denies the link.)
Asked repeatedly about his decision and whether he has regrets about his decision now that Carlson has begun to use the video to try to alter the January 6 narrative, McCarthy kept returning to a single word — transparency.
Asked specifically if McCarthy had reconsidered his move with Carlson now using the footage to “downplay Brian Sicknick’s death” and “whitewash the events of that day,” McCarthy replied: “No.” His goal was “transparency,” he said repeatedly, defending how the video was distributed. (See ‘transparency’ definition below.)
Kevin McCarthy was asked whether he regrets allowing Tucker and his producers to show a few clips of J6 footage on Fox News.
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) March 8, 2023
He said no, because he was concerned about “Transparency”.
Nice to see Kevin not cave to the mob for once.
I’m skeptical though. Won’t hold my breath. pic.twitter.com/UB05nRmjJo
One trouble with McCarthy’s reasoning, critics point out, is that the video delivery to Fox was an exclusive — no other media organization was given access to the video, which McCarthy said he would release more broadly at a later date, after Carlson was finished with his reframing of the events.
[Transparency, according the American Legislative Exchange Council, is “government’s obligation to share information with citizens that is needed to make informed decisions and hold officials accountable for the conduct of the people’s business.”]
This week Carlson started his on-air efforts to portray the Capitol siege as a “mostly peaceful” demonstration using the footage that McCarthy hand-delivered. Even staunch Fox-friendly conservatives like Mitch McConnell immediately called Carlson’s depictions a mistake, saying:
“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.”
