(CBrief) – The January 6 committee has essentially acknowledged that it failed to provide the American public with a just and precise evaluation of the Capitol riot that occurred in 2021 ahead of certifying then-President-elect Joe Biden.

In a statement to CNN, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) declared that the group never scrutinized the J6 footage, which Fox News aired this week and had not been viewed before.

“I’m not actually aware of any member of the committee who had access,” Thompson said. “We had a team of employees who kind of went through the video.”

Regardless of whether the panel members’ staff simply skimmed through the video or were already aware of it but opted to keep it hidden, the January 6 investigation was supposedly tasked by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for delivering an impartial and precise account of the event.

Carlson’s team was given access to some 41,000 hours of previously undisclosed video footage taken in and around the U.S. Capitol on the day of the riot, and he aired some of it on Monday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who provided Carlson’s team the access, defended his decision to do so earlier this week.

“Do you regret giving him this footage so he could whitewash the events of that day?” one reporter asked the California Republican.

McCarthy responded by citing “transparency” as a major reason why he gave Fox News first access.

“I said at the very beginning – transparency. And so what I want to produce for everybody is exactly what I said, that people can actually look at it and see what’s gone on that day,” McCarthy noted.

“Each person can come up with their own conclusion [about the footage], but what I just want to make sure is I had transparency,” he added.

McCarthy took specific aim at CNN for its coverage, which he said had raised significant security concerns for lawmakers like himself in the past. He reiterated that his goal is to ensure transparency moving forward.

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