Fox News host says January 6 committee testimony is not 'not truthful' and could be used in campaign ads

• Fox News host Martha MacCallum warned the Jan. 6 committee hearings could be used in political ads.
• Although it's against House ethics rules, she said Democrats might use clips from them in commercials.

Fox News host Martha MacCallum speculated that Democrats could use footage from the House Select Committee hearings in the 2022 midterms and the 2024 presidential election.

While MacCallum did not dispute the testimony from witnesses who spoke about former President Donald Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 election, she predicted that the footage will be "turned around" into campaign ads.

"Also, every time I look at these hearings, I think, there's another campaign ad, right?" MacCallum said. "There's another moment where this is all gonna be turned around — not to say that it's not truthful — but it will be extremely useful in coming campaigns, especially in the presidential, when you look back at what we have in terms of the Mike Pence part of all of this."

Doing so would be illegal, according to House ethics rules, which prohibit "radio and television tapes and film of any coverage of House committee proceedings" being used by campaigns or any organization "to promote or oppose the candidacy of any person for public office."

MacCallum also took issue with the lack of Republican representation on the committee, despite Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois both serving as GOP members on the panel.

"One of the things that stands out to me, John, just in terms of the political landscape here, is that A., there is no opposition questioning," MacCallum said. "And I think that most of these people would hold up quite well under it, probably, but I think that it would lend a little bit more credibility to it to have someone in that room saying, 'Yes, but what about this? What about that?' But we're not getting that in this current environment."

MacCallum, like other Fox News hosts and contributors who have brought up the committee not being split evenly between the two major US parties, did not mention the Senate vote to block an official bipartisan commission from being created, nor House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitting almost all of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's picks.

She also pointed to the Trump legal team's lack of evidence to back up their voter fraud claims as one of her major takeaways from the Tuesday hearing.

"It is very compelling, and the lack of evidence is the huge, stunning, clear moment here, where these people are saying, look, I've supported you, please give me something to work with, and it simply doesn't materialize," MacCallum said.

Fox News did not respond to Insider's request for comment.