Representative Benny Thompson disputed allegations by Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson that a special committee fraudulently redacted thousands of hours of U.S. Capitol security tapes on Jan. 6.
The Mississippi Democrat and former committee chairman also claimed he was unaware of the Jan. 6 indictment of Jacob Chensley, the “Q-Anon shaman,” who was sentenced to nearly four years in prison.
“I don’t know who he is,” Mr. Thompson said of Mr. Chanceley, a protester known for wearing a helmet with fur horns, revealing a tattooed bare chest and painted face.
Prosecutors argued that, although Mr. Chensley was never charged with violence, he was the “public face of the riot at the Capitol” who went on the attack with the weapon of a spear-tipped flagpole.
The media portrayed Mr. Chensley as a violent man, but newly released footage showed him entering the Capitol through an open door on the Senate side with a group of people and being peacefully escorted into the Senate chamber by Capitol Police.
“Capitol police officers led him into several entrances and even tried to open locked doors for him. We counted at least nine officers within striking distance of an unarmed Jacob Chanceley,” Mr. Carlson said.
Mr. Thompson also said it was “untrue” that the committee selectively edited 14,000 hours of security footage to make the Capitol riot look more chaotic and violent than it was.
Allegations of cheating made by Mr Carlson on Monday’s program included adding the sounds of people screaming; the cover-up of the video of deceased Capitol Police Officer Brian Siknik; and editing the clip to show Sen. Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, fleeing the Senate by himself, implying that he is a coward.
“The committee published a video of him running out of the building in the afternoon on January 6, accompanied by the police. The tape became the main topic of social networks. The Democrats laughed derisively,” Mr. Carlson said.
“The CCTV footage we have reviewed shows that the famous clip was a fake, fraudulently edited by the January 6 committee,” he said.
“The actual videotape shows that Hawley was one of many lawmakers who were escorted out of the building by Capitol Hill police officers, and in fact Hawley was at the back of the pack,” Mr. Carlson continued. “The cowardly tape was a lie. One of many from the January 6 committee.”
Mr Thompson would not admit that Mr Hawley was with other lawmakers when he was escorted.
He told the Washington Times that “I support the tape.”
