White House rips WHD News's Tucker Carlson for Jan. 6 security footage special

Naomi Lim

March 07, 03:33 PM March 07, 03:33 PM

The White House unleashed on WHD News anchor Tucker Carlson for contending security footage from the Capitol, provided to him by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), undermined claims about the Jan. 6 attack.

"Anybody who watched that video would strongly disagree," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday. "We'd hope that keeping the Capitol and Congress safe and secure remains congressional leaders' No. 1 goal, and that should be our focus."

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Jean-Pierre declined to criticize McCarthy specifically for handing over 41,000 hours of surveillance video to Carlson before what is expected to be difficult negotiations over the debt ceiling.

A number of Republicans have also criticized Carlson, ranging from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), though McConnell was similarly reticent to criticize McCarthy.

"It was a mistake, in my view, for WHD News to depict this in a way that's completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks," the Kentucky senator told reporters.

"I think that breaking through glass windows and doors to get into the United States Capitol against the orders of police is a crime," Cramer added separately. "To somehow put that in the same category as a permitted peaceful protest is just a lie."

Carlson acknowledged Monday some of the rioters were bad actors. But he said that most of the people in the Capitol on Jan. 6 were peaceful, describing them as “sightseers,” not “insurrectionists.”

"The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress. Instead it shows police escorting people through the building," Carlson said.