Tucker Carlson is a flawed vehicle for getting at the truth about Jan. 6.

The public should benefit from his access to Jan. 6 video, nonetheless.

Either federal agents played a part in encouraging the rioting of January 6, 2021 or they didn’t. I don’t believe they did. But either way, the presentation of evidence that might bear on the question should not be stage managed by partisans.

Unfortunately, the Jan. 6 Committee did lots of stage managing. The members — all Democrats or Trump-hating Republicans — selected which video clips of the rioting and which portions of deposition testimony to present, as well as which witnesses to interview in the first place. They highlighted evidence that supported their narrative and concealed conflicting evidence — e.g. Trump’s statement that protesters should march “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol.

It’s true, of course, that the Committee couldn’t have shown the public more than 40,000 hours of rioting video and all of the deposition testimony it gathered. But what it could have done is permit members selected by the House Minority Leader to participate. These members could then have selected any evidence they believe supports a view of Jan. 6 that differs from that of the majority.

The public would have benefited. An airing of whatever Jim Jordan and company had to say and show would have better enabled us to reach an informed conclusion about the events of Jan. 6, including the performance of the Capitol Police and who, if anyone other than the rioters, is to blame for the shameful rampage of that day.

These observations inform my view of reports that Speaker McCarthy has granted Tucker Carlson access to more than 40,000 hours of Capitol security footage from Jan. 6, 2021. The precise contours of the arrangement between McCarthy and Carlson are not clear to me. But according to Carlson, his access is “unfettered.” He says:

Our producers, some of our smartest producers, have been looking at this stuff and trying to figure out what it means and how it contradicts or not the story we’ve been told for more than two years. We think already in some ways that it does contradict that story.

Carlson’s team will spend the rest of the week assessing the video and will air what they find relevant next week, he adds.

McCarthy has received lots of criticism for giving the video to Carlson. The objection is that Carlson is so highly partisan and so committed to such claims as that Jan. 6 was a “false flag” operation that he can’t be trusted to present the video fairly.

I agree. But I also believe Bennie Thompson and his partisan Committee staff were equally committed to a particular Jan. 6 narrative. I trust them no more than I trust Carlson.

There’s also this question: Assuming the video should be made public, to which news outlet should McCarthy have given it? Are there any honest, non-partisan brokers out there? None comes to my mind. Arguably, Carlson’s selection makes sense precisely because he’s a contrarian.

But should the public have access to video of the Jan. 6 rioting other than what’s already been released? I think so, in the interest of maximizing our understanding of what happened that day.

Let Carlson present whatever video he and his smartest producers believe demonstrates this was a “false flag” operation. Let those who disagree debunk whatever Carlson and his crew come up with.

This process should have played out through the Jan. 6 Committee. But Nancy Pelosi’s decision that every panel member had to share her views, even though this meant the unprecedented exclusion of members selected by the opposition leader, prevented this.

So now the job is up to talking heads. Is this a great country, or what?

There’s one more issue I want to consider. The Capitol Police is reportedly complaining that if video is shown indiscriminately, it will harm security at the building by revealing where the cameras are.

However, Politico points out:

There’s no indication McCarthy nor Carlson plan. . .a wide release of footage. And dozens, if not hundreds, of hours have already been released via court filings in Jan. 6 cases.

The Capitol Police are notoriously secretive, particularly about the security footage, a position that has not found much support among federal judges, who have routinely ordered clips released in hundreds of Jan. 6 prosecutions. Federal investigators have pushed for access to more video so they can identify additional perpetrators.

I assume Carlson will show carefully selected clips he thinks support his narrative. Given what Politico says, it seems highly unlikely that security at the Capitol will be jeopardized by this at all.