MSNBC: Giving Tucker J6 video is a disaster

You’ve likely already heard that after more than two years of delays, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has released the full body of video from the January 6 riots to Fox News, specifically to Tucker Carlson. This predictably has liberals and their faithful legacy media transcriptionists setting their hair on fire. There are accusations of dark conspiracies making the rounds, along with claims that the release of the video represents a national security threat. One of the first out of the gate was MSNBC’s Steve Benen. He released a lengthy screed making McCarthy sound like Benedict Arnold handing the blueprints for West Point to the Hessians.
 

Just so we’re all clear about the nature of the process, the video tapes in question are official government materials. They don’t belong to one member, one party, or one cable channel; they belong to all of us. And yet, there’s the new House speaker, who apparently made a unilateral decision to give one controversial Fox News host exclusive access to 41,000 hours of surveillance footage.

You can immediately see two aspects of Benen’s argument that are laughable at best. The first is the idea that the footage represents “official government material” that belongs “to all of us.” If that footage belongs to all of us, where were MSNBC’s complaints for the more than two years that the Democrats in the House (and particularly on the J6 committee) sat on the footage, only releasing select pieces that painted the rioters in the worst possible light? Benen is also clearly upset that his network wasn’t chosen to receive the video first. But the government grants exclusive first access to material on a daily basis.

Benen goes on to claim that Tucker is the last person you would want to have the video. Why? Because he “lacks credibility on the issue.”
 

Part of the problem with McCarthy’s move is that Carlson lacks credibility on the issue. As Axios’ report noted, Carlson has “repeatedly questioned official accounts of 1/6, downplaying the insurrection as ‘vandalism.’” CNN’s report added, “[H]e has devoted significant airtime to the false claim that liberal ‘deep state’ partisans within the FBI orchestrated the insurrection as a way to undermine former President Donald Trump. He has conducted sympathetic interviews with some of the rioters who were subsequently charged by the Justice Department.” Full story here.