Kevin McCarthy was once horrified by the Jan. 6 rioters. Now he's helping Tucker Carlson try to exonerate them.

• Kevin McCarthy provided footage of the Jan. 6 Capital riot to Tucker Carlson.
• The Fox News host is using it in a bid to portray the violent protest as peaceful.

As rioters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, then House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pleaded with Donald Trump to call his supporters off.

According to accounts of the conversation, McCarthy was furious at Trump and shocked by the unfolding violence, at one point exclaiming: "They're trying to fucking kill me!"

But in the months and years that followed the riot, McCarthy's position has dramatically shifted. As one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, he has played a key role in seeking to downplay the event.

On Monday, that campaign reached a new level when Fox News host Tucker Carlson broadcast portions of Capitol surveillance footage handed to him by McCarthy after his election as speaker in the new GOP-controlled House.

The violent event, in which Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election was being certified, has been the focus of several conspiracy theories.

Carlson has argued the footage "does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress", but rather "mostly peaceful chaos". After seeing Carlson's clips, Twitter CEO Elon Musk accused lawmakers of "misleading the public."

Carlson's depiction, however, clashes with what is known about the event.

Police officers were brutally beaten by rioters as they stormed the Capitol, while lawmakers, including McCarthy, fled fearing for their lives. Five officers died after the event, including several by suicide. Three protestors died in medical emergencies and one was killed by a law enforcement officer.

Winston Pingeon, a former Capitol Police officer, criticized Carlson for falsifying the violence of the day.

"I wish Tucker and Elon would talk to me or any Capitol police officers before spewing garbage/ cherry picked footage, ignoring all the obvious and unprecedented violence," wrote Pingeon.

For his part, McCarthy has defended his decision to release the tapes, telling The New York Times last week that he had "promised" he would make the footage public. He again defended the decision in remarks to reporters Tuesday, saying it was in the interests of transparency.

Insider contacted a McCarthy spokesperson for comment, but without reply.

Political calculations are likely among the core factors in McCarthy's decision.

"It helps McCarthy solidify his speakership among the right, especially those who held their vote out," Ron Bonjean, a veteran Republican strategist, told The New York Times. "It shows to conservatives that he's providing complete transparency, and that's what Republicans have wanted for a long time."

McCarthy was elected as House speaker in January after a grueling battle to persuade holdout Republicans on the party's hard right to back him. He only succeded in winning their support after making a series of sweeping concessions.

Among his most relentless critics was Carlson, whose show is viewed by millions of the GOP's core supporters, and who is seen by some as a party kingmaker.

Hard-right Republicans had long demanded that McCarthy release the full tapes of the attack, with some having sought to portray the rioters as unfairly imprisoned and persecuted.

In choosing Carlson as his outlet of choice for the tapes, McCarthy opens himself up to the accusation that he is complicit in the host's alleged bid to undermine the facts about the riot.

Backing Carlson's attempts to rewrite the history of the riot, whose terror McCarthy personally experienced, may win him a reprieve from the GOP's far right, but it will likely worsen the partisan divides that have torn American politics apart.