WASHINGTON — U.S. Capitol Police officers were not informed that the surveillance footage of Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol was being passed to Fox News host Tucker Carlson. This was according to the top lawyer for the department in a court filing.
A declaration filed Friday at Washington federal court by Capitol Police general counsel Thomas DiBiase stated that police discovered from a February 20 media report that Carlson’s staff had been reviewing thousands of hours footage from the day of riot that was not made public.
According to DiBiase, the Republican-led Committee on House Administration had asked for access to the footage from Capitol Police just 12 days prior to this filing. This was first reported by Politic.
Demonstrators clash with U.S. Capitol police officers while trying to enter the Capitol building during a protest on Jan. 6, 2021.
Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
DiBiase claimed that he was told by CHA staff that Tucker Carlson Show personnel were allowed to see any footage while being supervised by staff, but that no footage had been physically turned over to the show.
In the weeks that followed, he said that he had “numerous discussions” with the staff director of the committee asking for a review of every clip to be made public.
This month, Carlson broadcast dozens clips on his Fox News Show. On his Fox News show, he stated that “We take security seriously. So before airing any video of this nature we checked with the Capitol Police. We are happy to report that the reservations were minimal and, for the most part reasonable. The only thing we did was to blur the details of one interior door in Capitol Building.
DiBiase stated that he was shown only one clip out of all the clips broadcast on Carlson’s March 6/7 and 7 shows.
DiBiase stated that the clip was taken from a list that had been marked “sensitive” and that he authorized its use.
DiBiase stated that the other 40 clips, which weren’t from the Sensitive List were never shown to him or anyone else from Capitol Police.
Representatives from Fox News and the House Administration Committee didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
One Carlson segment showed rioters walking through Capitol without causing any damage or engaging in any violence. According to the host, most of the rioters were “tourists” and not “insurrectionists”.
This segment was attacked by lawmakers from both ends of the aisle for being misleading. In connection with the Jan. 6th, 2021 attack that left 140 officers injured , more than 900 people were arrested.
The chief Thomas Manger of the Capitol Police force wrote a letter to NBC News claiming that Carlson’s report was offensive.
Manger wrote that the program was “conveniently cherry-picked” from the calmer parts of our 41,000 hours video. “The commentary does not provide context for the violence and chaos that occurred before or during these moments that were less intense.”
Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. House Speaker, stated that he had shared the video with Carlson in an ” exclusive“.
DiBiase filed a declaration in the case against William Pope, a Jan. 6 defendant. He stated that he believed the videos might contain footage that could help him exonerate.
Other Jan. 6 defendants tried to make similar arguments but it was futile.
