House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) received an ethics complaint from a watchdog group which accused the speaker of acting in a politically motivated way when he released Jan. 6 footage to Tucker Carlson.
Those members include Obama-era ambassador and first Trump impeachment lawyer Norman Eisen; Richard Painter, a former Bush White House ethics adviser; lobbyist Craig Holman; and fellow lobbyist Lisa Gilbert. They expressed concerns that Carlson would use the footage to advance what they described as an “inaccurate story of events” about Jan. 6.
“Without full public access to the complete historical record, there is concern that an ideologically-based narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness, with destabilizing risks to the legitimacy of Congress, the Capitol Police, and the various federal investigations and prosecutions of Jan. 6 crimes,” their letter stated.
And they said that McCarthy’s decision is merely “partisan gamesmanship” and is the “very type of polarizing gamesmanship that has caused such damage to the public’s perception of the integrity of Congress.”
“It was wrong for Speaker McCarthy to provide this footage to one organization that happens to be politically aligned with him and not release the videos to the media generally at the same time,” the letter added. “This is not like granting an exclusive interview; this is providing a valuable government resource exclusively to one news outlet and discriminating against others, which flies in the face of First Amendment values.”
McCarthy’s move to give Carlson the footage came after GOP lawmakers pushed the party leader to release video footage. In response, McCarthy said that he promised to release the footage and said the public has the right to know what happened on Jan. 6, while adding that the Democrat-dominated House subcommittee to investigate the breach was biased.
Both McCarthy and another top Republican, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), have indicated that the footage will be released to the broader public and other news outlets in the coming weeks, although it’s not clear exactly when. Several corporate news outlets have sent letters to members of Congress, demanding the release of the footage.
The speaker also said that certain news outlets and journalists are “jealous” of Carlson. “That’s interesting because every person in the press works off exclusives on certain things,” McCarthy told the Washington Post in a recent interview.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) have criticized McCarthy for releasing the footage to Carlson, saying that it will imperil U.S. Capitol security or even national security.
On Monday, Carlson released some new footage of the Jan. 6 breach, revealing that Capitol Police officers appeared to accompany “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley, who is currently serving federal prison time, in the midst of the chaos. At one point, according to the footage, the officers appear to open doors for Chansley and make no attempt to detain him or prevent him from entering rooms inside the Capitol.
Other footage released Monday includes a clip of U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who was seen walking around and directing protesters to leave the premises. Carlson said the video is more evidence that Sicknick was not killed by Jan. 6 protesters, dismissing claims that he was murdered.
The Fox News host, meanwhile, indicated that he will release more footage this week.
The Epoch Times has contacted McCarthy’s office for comment.
