Several main media organizations have demanded entry to the hundreds of hours of video recorded contained in the U.S. Capitol throughout the Jan. 6, 2021, riot after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave the footage to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
The letter was despatched on behalf of ABC, Advance Publications, Axios, CNN, CBS, Gannett, the Los Angeles Times, Politico, ProPublica and Scripps.
Attorney Charles Tobin, representing the retailers, stated full public entry to the footage is required to finish the historic file.
“Without full public access to the complete historical record, there is concern that an ideologically-based narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness, with destabilizing risks to the legitimacy of Congress, the Capitol Police, and the various federal investigations and prosecutions of January 6 crimes,” Tobin wrote within the letter.
Carlson has repeatedly defended rioters who attacked the Capitol and referred to as the hearings on Jan. 6 riot “propaganda.”