Previously secret Jan. 6 video also shows provocateur Ray Epps lied to investigators, Fox host alleges on highly anticipated special
The face of the Jan. 6 incursion—the so-called “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley—was peacefully escorted around the U.S. Capitol by police on Jan. 6, Fox News host Tucker Carlson alleged on March 6 in his first special based on exclusive access to 41,000 previously unseen hours of Capitol security video.
Carlson showed CCTV security video of Chansley walking calmly through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Not only did the police not try to stop Chansley, they escorted him, Carlson said.
“Virtually every moment of his time inside the Capitol was caught on tape,” Carlson told his national television audience. “The tape shows that Capitol Police never stopped Jacob Chansley. They helped him. They acted as his tour guides.
“Capitol Police officers take him to multiple entrances and even try to open locked doors for him,” Carlson said. “We counted at least nine officers who are within touching distance of unarmed Jacob Chansley.
“Not one of them even tried to slow him down. Chansley understood that Capitol Police were his allies. Video shows him giving thanks for them in a prayer on the floor of the Senate.”
Carlson said his producers spent three weeks in Washington with “unfettered access” to security video, thanks to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Much of the massive video cache was irrelevant, he said, such as footage of empty rooms. Producers used Capitol computers to hone in on relevant times and locations, he said.
Legacy media and much of the Democrat establishment made Chansley into a caricature during and after Jan. 6, 2021. Walking shirtless, bedecked in an animal-fur headdress with horns, and carrying a spear with an American flag attached, the Shaman quickly became the most recognized man in America.
Chansley agreed to plead guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding in September 2021. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to 41 months in prison in November 2021. Prosecutors had sought a 51-month sentence.
