A crowd of pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is warning towards the discharge of safety footage from through the Capitol assault to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

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A crowd of pro-Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is warning towards the discharge of safety footage from through the Capitol assault to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Democrats are sounding the alarm {that a} Fox News host’s entry to hundreds of hours of safety tapes from the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol may endanger the Capitol additional and set off a brand new wave of disinformation.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer referred to as the discharge “one of the worst security risks since 9/11” in a letter to fellow senators Wednesday.

He issued the warning following reporting by Axios that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy granted Fox News host Tucker Carlson entry to greater than 40,000 hours of the tapes.

“The footage Speaker McCarthy is making available to Fox News is a treasure trove of closely held information about how the Capitol complex is protected and its public release would compromise the safety of the Legislative Branch and allow those who want to commit another attack to learn how Congress is safeguarded,” Schumer mentioned.

Carlson on his Monday night time program mentioned his crew was reviewing the safety footage. He has been a key figure in spreading false claims related to the siege, together with incorrect claims that “antifa” teams or the FBI might be responsible for the assault.

NPR has not independently confirmed Carlson’s crew has entry to the footage. Both Fox News and McCarthy’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

In the letter, Schumer mentioned that the footage may reveal the situation of safety cameras, which may make it more durable for U.S. Capitol Police to do their work. He additionally expressed concern that the video footage would expose “highly-guarded plans for continuity of government.”

Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, House Democrats met nearly for a briefing on the matter, led partially by Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the previous chair of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault, which accomplished its work in December.

“I’m not comfortable with the knowledge that I have right now that the security interests of the Capitol, the people who work there and the people who visit is protected,” Thompson, now the rating Democrat on the House Homeland Security panel, mentioned. “There are some items … that should not be made available to the general public.”

Thompson went on to element the painstaking course of the choose committee adopted throughout its investigation to entry the safety footage, and his worries the identical procedures aren’t in place as we speak.

The Jan. 6 panel had a separate, password-protected laptop arrange for committee workers to overview the safety footage. Those workers members labored with Capitol Police to coordinate which clips the committee wished to share as a part of its hearings.

“So without any knowledge of how this release [to Carlson] was negotiated, it’s a concern,” Thompson mentioned.

Some average Republicans have argued in favor of extra entry to the tapes.

“Sunlight is the best medicine,” tweeted South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace.

U.S. Capitol Police had already shared the safety footage with Congress, which means prime congressional leaders and committees can now entry and share the tapes.

“When Congressional Leadership or Congressional Oversight Committees ask for things like this, we must give it to them,” U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger mentioned in a press release.