WASHINGTON — US Capitol Police officials were not told that surveillance video of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which they released to House Republicans, would be released to Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, the department’s lead attorney said in court under oath. presentation.
in a statement Filed Friday in federal court in Washington, Capitol Police General Counsel Thomas DiBiase said police discovered through a Feb. 20 media report that Carlson staff were reviewing thousands of hours of footage from the day of the riots that had not been made public at the time. .
The Republican-led House Administration Committee had requested access to Capitol police footage just 12 days earlier, according to DiBiase in the filing, first reported by political.
DiBiase said he was told that «the Tucker Carlson Show staff were allowed to view whatever footage they wanted while being supervised by CHA staff, but no recording had been physically delivered to the show.»
He said he had «numerous conversations» with the committee’s personnel director in the weeks that followed, asking him to review every clip that would be made public.
Carlson aired dozens of clips on his Fox News show this month. He said on his show: «We take security seriously, so before airing this video we checked with the Capitol Police first. We’re happy to say that the reservations were minor and, for the most part, reasonable. At the Al In the end, the only change we made was to blur the details of a single interior door in the Capitol building.»
In his statement, DiBiase said that of the numerous clips that aired on Carlson’s show on March 6 and 7, only one clip was shown to him before it aired.
DiBiase said the clip was from a list of places that had been designated «sensitive» and he approved its use.
“The other 40 or so clips, which were not on the Confidential List, were never shown to me or anyone else from the Capitol Police,” DiBiase said.
Representatives for Fox News and the House Administration Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Using snippets of the footage, a segment by Carlson showed rioters walking through the Capitol without causing any damage or committing any acts of violence. The presenter said that most of the rioters were peaceful “tourists” and not “insurgents”.
The segment was criticized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for being misleading. More than 900 people have been arrested in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack, which left some 140 officers injured.
In a letter to Capitol Police obtained by NBC News, agency chief Thomas Manger called Carlson’s report «offensive.»
“The show handpicked from the quietest moments from our 41,000 hours of video,” Manger wrote. «The comment provides no context for the chaos and violence that occurred before or during these less tense times.»
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he had agreed to share the video with Carlson as «exclusive.»
DiBiase’s statement was filed in the case of a Jan. 6 defendant named William Pope, who said he believes the videos could include footage that could help exonerate him.
Other January 6 defendants have tried to make similar arguments to no avail.