Commentary: Secret Surveillance Video Dismantles January 6 Narrative

Georgia Star News Staff
by Julie Kelly

 

Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired the first set of previously-unseen surveillance video captured by Capitol police security cameras on January 6, 2021 that undermines several aspects of the reigning narrative about what happened that day.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last month gave Carlson’s team “unfettered” access to 41,000 hours of footage the government kept hidden from the American public and individuals charged in the Justice Department’s unprecedented and ongoing investigation into the events of January 6. Capitol Police and the Justice Department designated the recordings as “highly sensitive” material in March 2021; the trove remains under tight protective orders and defendants must agree to strict rules before gaining access to clips entered as evidence against them.

Capitol Police turned over to the FBI roughly 14,000 hours of video covering the hours of noon and 8:00 p.m. on January 6 but the full 24-hour reel has been in the hands of House Democrats for two years—reportedly the footage that Carlson’s team was authorized to view.

Carlson exposed falsehoods that bolster key animating aspects of January 6 including the movements of Jacob Chansley; the activity of still-uncharged agitator Ray Epps; the death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick; alleged “reconnaissance tours” conducted by House Republicans the day before; the “escape” of Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.); and the overall deceptiveness of the January 6 Select Committee. “Taken as a whole, the video record does not support the claim that January 6 was an insurrection,” Carlson explained. “In fact, it demolishes that claim. And that’s exactly why the Democratic Party and its allies in the media prevented you from seeing it.”

At least nine police officers escorted Jacob Chansley, the so-called “QAnon shaman” throughout the building that afternoon. Some even opened doors so Chansley could access rooms inside the Capitol. Chansley was recorded inside the Senate chambers where he led a prayer and thanked law enforcement.

American Greatness first reported Chansley’s peaceful interaction with Capitol Police officers in May 2021. Chansely spent more than 300 days in solitary confinement conditions under court-ordered pretrial detention before finally accepting an offer to plead guilty to the nonviolent offense of obstruction of an official proceeding. In announcing his sentence in November 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth described Chansley, a Navy veteran with no criminal record and a history of mental disorders, as the “epitome” of January 6 and insisted his conduct was “horrific.” (Chansley was not charged with a violent crime.) He is currently serving a 41 month prison term.

American Greatness has also covered the lies about what happened to Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, first raising doubts about the account of his death as early as February 2021. The media, Justice Department, leading Democrats, and the January 6 select committee claim Sicknick died as a result of scuffles with protesters that afternoon. But Carslon played a never-before-seen video of Sicknick walking around the inside of the building after the alleged attack where he appears to be healthy. A man from New Jersey, Julian Khater, pleaded guilty to spraying Sicknick with pepper spray after spending 18 months in the D.C. Gulag. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

Infamous provocateur Ray Epps, contrary to his sworn testimony, remained on restricted grounds for at least 30 minutes past the time he told the committee that he had left the scene. “We do know he lied to investigators,” Carlson said. Epps accompanied the group of protestors who first breached the exterior boundary of the Capitol  on the west side before 1:00 p.m. on January 6; the new surveillance video proves he stayed on what is considered a restricted area for nearly two hours.

During one televised hearing, the January 6 Select committee aired a very brief clip of Hawley leaving the Senate chambers, video designed to show Hawley was fearful of the alleged “insurrectionists” after raising his fist in support of the crowd prior to the start of the joint session. Journalists and those in attendance at the July 2022 hearing laughed in response. “That famous clip is a sham, edited deceptively by the January 6 committee,” Carlson said. “The clip was propaganda, not evidence.” Carlson explained the full recording shows numerous lawmakers being “ushered out” of the building by Capitol Police.

And as American Greatness reported in May 2022, accusations about “reconnaissance tours” by House Republicans on January 5, 2021 are also false. “The surveillance video we reviewed showed this story is a lie.”

Additional video also showed protesters walking throughout the building and even picking up items on the floor. While acknowledging a “small percentage were hooligans,” Carlson aired unseen video of individuals respecting police and rope lines. “But the overall majority weren’t. They were peaceful and orderly and meek. They were not insurrectionists, they were sight-seers.”

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Julie Kelly is a political commentator and senior contributor to American Greatness. She is the author of January 6: How Democrats Used the Capitol Protest to Launch a War on Terror Against the Political Right and Disloyal Opposition: How the NeverTrump Right Tried―And Failed―To Take Down the President. Her past work can be found at The Federalist and National Review. She also has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, and Genetic Literacy Project. She is the co-host of the “Happy Hour Podcast with Julie and Liz.” She is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University and lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and two daughters.
Photo “January 6” by Tyler Merbler. CC BY 2.0.

 

 

 

 

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