Mitch McConnell slams Fox News — but spares Kevin McCarthy — over Tucker Carlson's depiction of January 6 footage

• Mitch McConnell slammed Fox News for airing Tucker Carlson's misleading portrayal of January 6.
• He held up a letter from the Capitol Police chief calling the depiction "offensive and misleading."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday issued a rare rebuke to Fox News for airing selectively edited footage of the January 6 assault on the Capitol on Tucker Carlson's show on Monday night.

At the top of his weekly press conference at the Capitol, McConnell produced a print-out of an internal letter from US Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manager describing the footage as "offensive and misleading."

"With regard to the presentation on Fox News last night, I want to associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of Capitol Police about what happened on January 6," said McConnell.

But he later declined to criticize House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for handing over 40,000 hours of footage to Carlson in the first place.

"My concern is how it was depicted, which is a different issue," he said. "It was a mistake, in my view, for Fox News to depict this in a way that's completely at variance with what our chief law enforcement official here at the Capitol thinks."

Pressed further, McConnell again declined to fault McCarthy.

"Now, you all know I have many faults, but one of them is not answering the question in a way that I don't want to answer it," he quipped.

McConnell took a similar tack when asked about the issue last week, notably declining to offer commentary on McCarthy's move while reiterating several times that his "main concern is the security of the Capitol."

Most other Republicans reserved judgment as well, praising the release of the footage as a victory for transparency while calling for broader distribution of the material to other news outlet.

But this week, several Senate Republicans blasted the depiction of the footage, with Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina telling reporters that Carlson's portrayal was "bullshit."

Democrats, for their part, have been staunchly critical of the decision.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters at his press conference on Tuesday that Carlson's segment was "one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen in the history — of the entire history — of cable television."

"Tucker Carlson is a propagandist publicly pretending to be a newsman," said Schumer.

Manger's letter, a copy of which was obtained by Insider, specifically rebutted a series of claims Carlson made on his show on Monday night, including that officers acted as "tour guides" for rioters.

"You fought like hell on January 6 and risked your lives to protect the Constitution and everything this country stands for," said Manger. "You, along with our law enforcement partners, saved every Member of Congress and their staff."

"TV commentary will not record the truth for our history books. The justice system will. The truth and justice are on our side," Manger also wrote.