Well, Tucker Carlson finally got to view the unedited version of the January 6 riot footage from the congressional hearings.
I would not go as far as he did in characterizing it, but I would agree with him that this was hardly an "insurrection." I did not agree with that phrasing when it went down and I surely do not agree with it now.
But I would say that his footage was very eye-opening in terms of what the Democrats chose to edit out specifically to win some political points.
One of the biggest lies told was exposed when Tucker Carlson showed surveillance footage of the QAnon Shaman literally touring the halls of the Capitol, via Politico.
Hardly What Dems Painted
There were surely areas of the Capitol that were being stressed, but that was not the case throughout the Capitol.
In fact, the QAnon Shaman, whose real name is Jacob Chansley, a Navy veteran, was peacefully walking around with Capitol Police officers actually testing doors for him… I kid you not.
The Capitol Police have pushed back saying that they were using de-escalation techniques, but no officer I know says that includes trying to find an open door to the area that the suspect wants to breach. I could hardly even type that line with a straight face let alone imagine how the Capitol Police higher-ups are pitching that to the media.
At one point, there were nine officers near the Shaman, meaning they easily could have restrained him and arrested him, but that clearly did not happen…
There were members of the media that were literally calling for the Shaman to be shot when he was in the Capitol, but the man never did a single violent thing or attack anyone once he was inside the Capitol. You want to arrest him, fine, but a summary execution is a bit extreme, I think we can all agree.
New York Post columnist Miranda Devine stated, "You can see the way those people were walking through the Capitol… they are walking meekly, politely queuing, very peaceable. They don't mean any harm. They are treating the Capitol with reverence," reports Fox News.
"That doesn't excuse the others, the minority of the protesters who did break windows and fight police and injure police and cause mayhem.
"But the people who are now being picked up and some of them have been jailed without trial for months, even years on end, did not commit violence.
"They walked through open doors, they were escorted by police, they felt that this was okay.
"And I think Jacob Chansley is a classic example of that."
I have said this many times… for those that broke the law, punish them. Those that were there to be harmful, throw the book at them, but that was not the case for Chansley.
You can fine him for trespassing but to depict the man as a domestic terrorist when you have significant footage of him being escorted by police around the Capitol, well, that is hardly what was being depicted.
Not only that, I think those officers have a lot to answer for in the way they conducted themselves, then maintained absolute silence while all these cases were being prosecuted.
Quite frankly, I am sickened by both sides.
