House Speaker Kevin McCarthy defended his controversial move to grant Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to security footage from the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, telling the New York Times he “promised.”
“I was asked in the press about these tapes, and I said they do belong to the American public. I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment,” he told the Times.
McCarthy – who has already been fundraising on the move – did indeed promise to release the footage as part of his bid to become speaker, and it was something Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz had specifically been demanding. In fact, it was on a lengthy list of demands that Gaetz walked into McCarthy’s office with on the Monday night before the speaker’s vote, according to a GOP source familiar with the list.
But the list did not say the footage needs to go to Carlson – that was decided later.
McCarthy could have tasked his own committees with sorting through the footage and presenting it, but a source close to McCarthy said he has long been wary of having the House GOP looking like it is investigating or relitigating the January 6 attack.
Instead, McCarthy opted to give the footage to a friendly conservative media network. Specifically, he opted to give the exclusive to Carlson, who has been one of the most vocal voices in conservative media calling for the footage to be released. Carlson has been a huge McCarthy critic – so this move could help win the speaker some favor with Carlson’s camp as McCarthy tries to hold together both the conservative and moderate wings of his Republican conference.
McCarthy is hoping that outsourcing this work to the media will be a way to appease his right flank without upsetting his moderates and majority makers.
But it’s a still a big risk, and McCarthy and House Republicans could still wind up…
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