Sources: McCarthy gave Tucker Carlson all Jan. 6 security footage
In our politics lead in a highly unusual move that Democrats are assailing as potentially dangerous House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News producers access to all of the U. S. Capitol security footage from the January 6th insurrection that's according to multiple sources including Fox Fox of course the news organization that knowingly pushed lies about the 2020 election repeatedly promoted on its airways as revealed in a rather damning court filing last week that quoted Fox executives and hosts at length bemoaning the lies they needed to share to get viewers. CNN's Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill for us. Lauren this footage this January 6 footage had been strictly controlled by the January 6 committee and federal prosecutors. So what did they say about this move by Speaker McCarthy. Well Democrats are really concerned about a Jake in part because they argue it does pose a potential security risk because you are talking about security footage that can show different angles of the U.
S. Capitol as well as escape routes of some of the politicians who are racing to get out of this building on January 6. They're concerned they say is about whether or not a future attacker could use that footage to learn more about the premise here on Capitol Hill. But you have Hakeem Jeffries the top Democrat in the House of Representatives sending a letter to his colleagues saying he's going to get to the bottom of how this footage was transferred to Fox News saying quote the apparent transfer of video footage represents a courageous security breach that endangers the hardworking women and men at the United States Capitol police who valiantly defended democracy with their lives at risk on that fateful day. And it's not just Democrats can serve Jake. You also have Republicans like former Congressman Adam Kinsey are telling CNN earlier that he can't believe that Kevin McCarthy made this decision. And he also thought that he had more respect for the institution as to go through and understand where their security concerns turn it over to the committees of jurisdiction first to review.
I think that's all this was was trying to win over Tucker Carlson so we could have him on our side. The danger in this is significant. And some of this security footage was released as part of the January 6th committee's hearings. But it was always done according to the chairman and other aides that worked on that committee with consultation of the U. S. Capitol police to ensure that some of that video footage didn't endanger the Capitol and the people who work here in the future. Jake.
It's certainly unusual. Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill thanks. And we still have not been able to get a response from Speaker McCarthy's office as to why he's making this decision and why it's not being released to all of the news media as opposed to one specific channel. Let's talk about this with my panel and Elena Democrats are really blasting this decision. Jamie Raskin the congressman who was on the January 6th committee tweeted in part McCarthy giving 40,000 hours of January 6th tape to Fox is an astounding ethical collapse. What security precautions were taken to keep this from becoming a roadmap for 2024 insurrection. What are you hearing about the security concerns that are being raised in the US Capitol.
And what are the concerns that are being raised in the US Capitol. Well that's Democrats main concerns and I think some Republicans as well. We spoke with Zoe Lofgren a former member of the January 6th committee. They were very careful with working with US Capitol police and in what footage they could use during their hearings. One thing that they did not want to be shown was lawmakers being evacuated from the Capitol building. And she told us that she worried that showing something like that or other footage that could potentially be improperly printed for quote unquote bad actors to potentially try and attack the Capitol again. And I will say just from my reporting I spoke with several sources in Republican leadership and they told me McCarthy did not go to them before releasing this footage to Fox News or making the decision to turn over this footage to Tucker Carlson and he did not consult Hakeem Jeffries the Democratic leader as well before before deciding to turn over a lot of this footage.
What's the justification for doing this. Do you think McCarthy will eventually tell you what he gives you an answer is that it's transparency. Right. The the argument is going to be that the other the Democrats one supportive channel. Well but of course you know procedures have to be followed also so you don't just release anything. I mean I think that'll be the that'll be the argument. I think it's it's clever of the Democratic leader Jeffries to say basically we want more transparency.
We want some transparency about this decision how it was made what things were considered. So he's not falling in falling for that trap. Yeah. It may be the argument but it only makes sense through the prism of politics because if it were transparency I think we all can agree that it would have been given out to all the news organizations at the same time which is pretty much standard protocol when you want to release something to the public. In this case it only makes sense through politics because of also the timing of it. Kevin McCarthy wants to push aside the January 6 committee. He already has.
And Fox News wants to push aside the emails that just came out about four or five days ago. We're pretty damning showing that Fox News hosts at the very top knew that Trump had lost the election. They went out and misled their audience anyway. Then what happens January 6. That is not a good look for Fox News. That is not flattering to say the least. It's not good for him.
Is it. I am not here to judge whether it works but I'm here to observe that empirically this is happening four days after those emails came out. We know that there's a tried to change the topic from negative information. What do you what do you. The big winners here are not Fox News or Speaker McCarthy. It's all enemies foreign and domestic. There are terrorists out there.
Those of us old enough to remember 9 11 know that those of us old enough to remember January 6 know that. And as a part of the media now I'm for transparency somewhat and sometimes frankly but not when security is an issue and security is an issue here. That's our capital building. And the Al Qaeda terrorists are going to study this. The ISIS terrorists are going to study this. Also that Kevin McCarthy can suck up to a cable news host who by the way will never like him. Tucker will never like Kevin McCarthy.
Believe me. But who cares. He's he's really endangering the security of a whole lot of people maybe including himself. God forbid. If the if the footage that Carlson uses ends up not compromising anybody security though I do think that the Fox play then will be to say look at all this hysteria. They're always attacking us with these extreme scenarios that don't kind of. But how will they secure it.
Yeah. Right. It's hard enough for the government to secure this. This. Let's say and I really want to believe this and I do believe that that Tucker and Fox are responsible with what they publicly release. How are they going to secure it. Are they going to be as secure as the US Capitol Police Department of Homeland Security FBI.
I doubt it. I think they're much more vulnerable to penetration by enemies. Well then could see court challenges to restraining order to try and stop this. Beyond that also I just think there's the idea that transparency means releasing it to the public releasing it to all news media organizations.