McCarthy says he will ‘slowly roll out’ Jan. 6 tapes to other news agencies

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Sunday that he will begin to “slowly roll out” access to official tapes from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to other news outlets, after he faced criticism for giving Fox News host Tucker Carlson an exclusive look at the footage.

“We will slowly roll out to every individual news agency. They can come see the tapes as well,” McCarthy said in an interview with Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “Let everyone see them to bring their own judgment.”

McCarthy was widely criticized by Democrats for providing exclusive access to the 41,000 hours of tapes to Carlson. Even Republicans pushed back against Carlson’s attempts to frame the rioting as a peaceful tour of the Capitol building.

Former Vice President Mike Pence over the weekend criticized the way that Carlson portrayed the tapes, saying the Jan. 6 riots put him and his family in danger.

“Make no mistake about it, what happened that day was a disgrace,” Pence said in a speech. “And it mocks decency to portray it any other way.”

But McCarthy has stood by his decision to give the cable news host an exclusive look at the tapes, saying it was in the interest of public transparency. 

“I didn’t give the tapes. I allowed [Carlson] to come see them, just like an exclusive with anybody else,” McCarthy said on Sunday. “My goal here is transparency.”

And as he says he plans to give other news outlets access to the tapes, McCarthy is campaigning for what he says is “equal justice” in the U.S., pointing to rioters and demonstrators in a number of cities around the country after unrest following police misconduct and brutality.

“But one thing I understand in America, we should have equal justice,” McCarthy said. “What really raises the point with me is, why did I watch federal courts, why did I watch cities burn, federal agencies or something, and nobody arrested there? I think we should have equal justice across this country.”