‘It Was An Absolute Riot!’ GOP Rep Disputes Tucker Spin — Then Falsely Praises McCarthy For Giving Footage to ‘Multiple Outlets’

Florida Republican Congressman Mike Waltz disputed the false spin from Tucker Carlson that January 6 rioters were peaceful “sightseers” — but then falsely praised Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy for giving the surveillance footage to “multiple outlets” in the name of “transparency.”

Carlson was granted exclusive access to 41,000 hours of surveillance footage by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and on Monday night’s edition of his Fox News program, he began to roll out selected clips along with his own narration rewriting the history of the attack.

Numerous GOP lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have ripped Fox News and Carlson over the false presentation — while Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer included McCarthy in his blistering condemnation.

On Wednesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Rep. Waltz tried to walk a line by disputing Carlson but also lashing out at footage “selectively edited to tell a political narrative” — by the January 6 committee.

He also claimed McCarthy “is giving those videos to multiple outlets,” a claim that Collins corrected gently:

KAITLAN COLLINS: Also ask you about something that we saw some of your fellow Republican colleagues responding to yesterday, which is after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave Fox News access to 40000 hours of footage at the Capitol on January 6. Fox then portrayed it, saying that they were essentially mostly peaceful chaos, sightseers. Is that how you saw what happened that day?

MIKE WALTZ: Yeah. Look, I was on the House floor. It was a riot. And anyone who injured a police officer or committed a crime should be prosecuted. I also believe we should have full transparency that day. And I believe Speaker McCarthy is giving those videos to multiple outlets. I think the American people need to see everything that happened, not things that were selectively edited to tell a political narrative by a highly politicized committee. Kaitlan So, look, everybody is going to see what happened. And in some places in the Capitol, it was an absolute riot and terrible and disgusting! And in the end, why in some places were the police just waving people in and then actually escorting them? So I think we also had a breakdown in security protocols that we need to fully understand. And I have no issue with everybody seeing these videos on that terrible day.

KAITLAN COLLINS: So are you calling on Speaker McCarthy to give it to everyone? Because so far he has not provided it to multiple media outlets?

MIKE WALTZ: I think it should be. I think it should be released across the board.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.

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