House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has granted Fox News host Tucker Carlson and his team access to surveillance footage from the U.S. Capitol around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
Carlson was granted access to some 41,000 hours of footage by McCarthy’s office, Axios first reported on Monday. A Fox News spokesperson confirmed the report to The Hill.
During a press conference last month, McCarthy said he supported the idea of more footage from the Jan. 6 attack being made public while accusing Democrats of politicizing the investigation. Two Republicans were seated on the select committee that was formed to probe events surrounding the riot, though both were critics of former President Trump.
“I think the public should see what has happened on that,” McCarthy told reporters in January while discussing the footage.
“We watched the politicization of this. I think the American public should actually see all what happened instead of a report that’s written for a political basis,” the GOP Speaker added.
Carlson, Fox’s top-rated prime-time host, has on his show questioned the circumstances around the attack.
In 2021 he produced “Patriot Purge,” a documentary series that purports to tell an alternative story of the Jan. 6 insurrection and features at least one subject who suggests the event may have been a “false flag” operation.
The series led two contributors to leave their roles with the network and reportedly angered staffers within Fox News’s ranks.
The release of additional footage from the Jan. 6 attack has been a point of emphasis for Republicans in the new Congress.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who was at the center of a rebellion against McCarthy for the Speakership last month, appeared on Carlson’s program and called for releasing additional footage from Jan. 6.
“Every time, from the JFK files to 9/11 to now Jan. 6, it’s our own government — it’s our own Department of Justice — that seems to stand in the way of transparency,” Gaetz said.
U.S. Capitol Police had previously said they shared 14,000 hours of sensitive footage with the Jan. 6 select committee.
Mychael Schnell contributed.