Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer became the latest Democrat to condemn House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to give Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to surveillance footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol Building.
“The speaker is needlessly exposing the Capitol complex to one of the worst security risks since 9/11,” Schumer said in a Wednesday letter to Senate Democrats.
“The footage Speaker McCarthy is making available to Fox News is a treasure trove of closely held information about how the Capitol complex is protected and its public release would compromise the safety of the Legislative Branch and allow those who want to commit another attack to learn how Congress is safeguarded,” the New York Democrat added.
On Monday, Fox News confirmed that McCarthy granted Carlson and his producers access to some 44,000 hours of closed circuit camera footage from the day of the Capitol riot, much of which has not been seen by the public.
“We believe that access is unfettered,” Carlson said on his show Monday. “We believe we have secured the right to see whatever we want to see,”he added, noting that he plans to air some of the footage starting next week.
“Giving someone as disingenuous as Tucker Carlson exclusive access to this type of sensitive information is a grave mistake by Speaker McCarthy that will only embolden supporters of the Big Lie and weaken faith in our democracy,” Schumer said in his letter.
The majority leader argued that the “handpicking” of Carlson by McCarthy “laid bare that this sham is simply about pandering to MAGA election deniers, not the truth,” and he predicted that the Fox News prime-time host will “select only clips that he can use to twist the facts to sow doubt of what happened” on Jan. 6, 2021.
Schumer writes that he believes the House speaker agreed to let Carlson review the footage in order “to get the votes he needed from the MAGA wing of the House Republican Conference to become speaker.”
“The speaker— nor any elected official— does not have the right to jeopardize the safety of senators nor Senate and Capitol staff for their own political purposes. Period. Full stop,” Schumer added.
On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) issued his own letter to House Democratic colleagues making many of the same points Schumer hit on Wednesday.
Jeffries called the apparent transfer of footage “an egregious security breach that endangers the hardworking women and men of the United States Capitol Police,” and blamed “extreme MAGA Republicans” for giving Carlson access to the tapes.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, the former head of the House Jan. 6 committee, also warned of “security risks” that may result from McCarthy’s move.
“It’s hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were to be used irresponsibly,” Thompson said in a statement Monday.