Trump leads right-wing praise of Jan. 6 footage release

Former President Donald Trump called Tuesday for the release of everyone arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot after the release of never-before-seen surveillance footage from that day.

“Let the January 6 prisoners go. They were convicted, or are awaiting trial, based on a giant lie, a radical left con job,” Trump, 76, raged on his Truth Social platform. “New video footage is irrefutable.”

Included in the clips that aired on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Monday was footage of two Capitol Police officers appearing to escort Jacob Chansley, the so-called “QAnon Shaman,” through the halls outside the Senate chamber.

Chansley, who came to symbolize the Capitol riot with his horned fur headdress and painted face, was sentenced in November 2021 to 41 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding.

Former first son Donald Trump Jr. echoed his father’s sentiment, tweeting: “I was told the QAnon shaman was leading an insurrection not the one who is being led by police throughout the capital [sic] building.”

He added: “No wonder all the footage was kept from us for 2 years. As always they lied to us all!”

Conservative attorney Mike Davis argued the footage of Chansley strolling through the Capitol halls without being arrested or challenged by cops represented “exculpatory evidence.”

“It is unacceptable the Biden Justice Department did not provide Jacob Chansley with this critical exculpatory evidence,” he tweeted. “It is even more unacceptable Judge Royce Lamberth did not order it. Then sentenced him to 41 months in prison. Truly shameful.”

Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, compared Chansley’s sentence to that of Hannah Tubbs — the 26-year-old transgender woman who was convicted of molesting children in California

“So ‘QAnon Shaman’ Jacob Chansley gets 4 years in prison for being politely escorted through the Capitol by multiple police and praying from the House floor, but serial child molester James Tubbs can pretend to be trans and gets only 2 years in juvie (as an adult) from an LA DA,” Kirk tweeted, referring to Tubbs’ birth name.

“The MSM [mainstream media] can spin & smear all they want, but there is no defense of the J6 Committee cutting clips to remove context or lying about things that the footage contradicted,” GOP strategist Andrew Surabian tweeted.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) also chimed in, tweeting: “Thank you to @TuckerCarlson for exposing the lies of the partisan Jan. 6 ‘Witch Hunt’ Committee. They hid videos & evidence from the American people to advance a partisan political narrative. Tucker is shining a light & sharing the TRUTH because ‘Democracy Dies In Darkness!’.”

Carlson was given access to the more than 40,000 hours of closed-circuit security footage by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). 

The Fox host argued during his show Monday that the footage doesn’t “support the claim that January 6 was an insurrection.”

“In fact, it demolishes that claim, and that’s exactly why the Democratic Party and its allies in the media stopped you from seeing it,” he told his viewers.

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“By controlling the images you were allowed to view from January 6, they controlled how the public understood that day. They could lie about what happened and you would never know the difference. Those lies had a purpose. They created a pretext for a federal crackdown on opponents of the uni-party in Washington.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Tuesday took to the Senate floor to accuse Carlson of telling a “boldfaced lie.”

“With contempt for the facts, disregard of the risks and knowing full well he was lying, lying to his audience, Fox News host Tucker Carlson ran a lengthy segment arguing the Jan. 6 riots was not a violent insurrection,” Schumer said.

“Speaker McCarthy was here that day. He knows what actually happened. His staff and members suffered like everyone else,” Schumer went on. “But he chose cheap political expediency over truth and preservation of democracy.”