Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California punched a CNN reporter during a brief meeting with reporters on January 6 in response to questions from Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson over the release of video evidence of the disruption.
CNN’s Manu Raju quotes Tucker Carlson as saying, “He downplayed Brian Sicknick’s killing, that it was not related to January 6, that this was not an insurrection” after seeing the clip you provided. Do you regret giving him access to those tapes so he could use them to conceal what happened that day?
“No. “From the start, I pushed for open communication,” McCarthy said. I wanted to make something that would serve as a record of the events of that day and be accessible to anyone who would be interested in doing so.
McCarthy said, “Each person may come to their conclusion” when asked if he agreed with Carlson’s account of what transpired on January 6.
But, McCarthy continued, “I just wanted to make sure I had transparency because I know on CNN, I mean, I had here where you guys had written where we were.” McCarthy pulled out a printed copy of the CNN piece. Confidential location for gathering… For reasons of security, I don’t suppose we could be sent there again, but I don’t know if that troubled you. Yet, many people became concerned after hearing about your account on CNN.