Kevin McCarthy defends release of Jan 6 tapes, says he will give them to any news outlet

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has defended his decision to provide FOX News' Tucker Carlson with over 40,000 hours of never-before-seen footage from the January 6 riot.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, McCarthy emphasized the importance of transparency, and said he'd gladly hand the clips over to any network willing to air them in an honest fashion.



"Because of the footage that you gave Tucker Carlson, last night he went on and said it was 'mostly peaceful' chaos ... not an insurrection," a reporter asked McCarthy. "Do you regret giving him that footage so he can whitewash the events of that day?"

"No," McCarthy quickly replied. "I said at the very beginning, transparency, and so what I want to produce for everybody is exactly what I said, that people could actually look at it and see what's gone on that day."

Another reporter jumped in and asked the House Speaker if he agreed with Carlson's portrayal of the events. He responded by stating that his only goal was to ensure transparency, and encouraged people to watch the footage and draw their own conclusions.

McCarthy went on to lament the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, whose death was quickly deemed a result of the chaos by Democrats and the media despite the fact that he passed away of natural causes a day after the riot. He also suggested that his decision to release the footage was made in response to the partisan nature of the January 6 Committee.

"What I tried to do is be able to release the information, which we'll do to everybody," he continued, adding that he worked with the Capitol Police to ensure the clips didn't compromise security.

Reaction to the footage has been mixed; the decision to make everything available was celebrated by many, while some on the left called it a mistake.

Following the airing of the clips on Monday night, former president Trump demanded that all the January 6 detainees be released.