OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 1:30 PM PT – Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Fox News host Tucker Carlson released some of the footage from Capitol Hill showing the events that took place on January 6th, 2021.
Carlson had received over 40,000 hours of security camera footage from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). The security footage was from inside the Capitol building as well as the surrounding area. The footage had not been available to the public prior.
According to Carlson, the footage showed that lawmakers and the media had been “lying” about the events of that day. The footage released so far showed that Trump supporters were peacefully walking around the building and taking pictures, contrary to the limited footage released before which allowed Democrat lawmakers to compare the events to 9/11 and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Jacob Chansley, a United States Navy veteran, has been referred to as the “QAnon Shaman” and the person who had partly led the “insurrection” that day.
The footage showed several Capitol police officers escorting and interacting with Chansley around the building with no attempt at stopping him.
Chansley had been later arrested and charged with “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.” He was sentenced to almost four years in prison.
Miranda Devine, a columnist for the New York Post, spoke with Carlson about the footage and said that it proves that Chansley was “harmless.”
“You can see the way those people were walking through the Capitol… they are walking meekly, politely queuing, very peaceable. They don’t mean any harm. They are treating the Capitol with reverence,” Devine said. “That doesn’t excuse the others, the minority of the protesters who did break windows and fight police and injure police and cause mayhem. But the people who are now being picked up and some of them have been jailed without trial for months, even years on end, did not commit violence. They walked through open doors, they were escorted by police, they felt that this was okay. And I think Jacob Chansley is a classic example of that.”
Further footage contradicts the narrative which was created by Democrats surrounding that day. Since those events took place, Democrat lawmakers have claimed that there was a “deadly insurrection” and an “attack on democracy” and they had only released a limited footage that seemed to support their agenda.
The footage goes on to show Officer Brian Sicknick walking normally while guiding people out of the building while wearing a helmet. This appears to contradict previous claims by the media that he had died due to a head injury.
Officer Sicknick had become a “household name” who the media said was “attacked” and had been hit on the head with a fire extinguisher, which ultimately led to his passing.
“This tape overturns the single most powerful and politically useful lie that Democrats told us about January 6th,” Carlson said. “They lied about the police officer they claimed to revere. If they were willing to do that, then their dishonesty knew no limits.”
The footage which showed Officer Sicknick had a digital bookmark in the archives. Carlson pointed out that the bookmark points to the high likelihood that the House Select Committee had watched the footage but chose not to include it in the hearings and in its final report.
The footage additionally showed Ray Epps on the grounds of the Capitol Building at least 30 minutes after he told the House Select Committee he had sent the text to his nephew and was on his way back to his hotel. Suspicions have been raised by many that Epps had coordinated with the FBI because no charges have yet been brought against him for his role that day.
Another point that was refuted by the new footage was the claim by the House Select Committee that Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) had fled in a cowardly manner. The footage, however, shows that he was escorted, along with several other lawmakers, away from the area by Capitol police.
“The clip was propaganda,” Carlson said, referring to the footage that the committee had used. “Not evidence.”
The footage released on Fox News has already caused major backlash online for the Democrats. Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said that his mind was changed after he watched the footage. He also cited a poll that showed an overwhelming majority of Americans, including Democrats, want all the footage to be released to the public.
Carlson has stated that there is more footage to be released as well. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to demand the release of anyone who has been jailed and is facing trials due to January 6th.
