OPINION | Views expressed in this article reflect the author's opinion.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson has released previously unseen footage of the Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol.

Democrats were keeping the footage hidden from Americans for years. Once Republicans regained power in the House, Speaker Kevin McCarthy began the process of releasing the footage.

Carlson says his team has taken a deep dive into the footage and it contradicts the story that has been told by Democrats for the past two years.

Carlson explained, “With that, here is the video. It doesn’t answer every question from January 6, far from it, but it does prove beyond doubt that Democrats in Congress, assisted by Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, lied about what happened that day.”

“They are liars. That is conclusive, and that fact should prevent them from ever being taken seriously again,” Carlson continued.

“We’re going to get inside with footage that shows you what was actually happening inside the Capitol. The footage does not show an insurrection or a riot in progress. Instead, it shows police escorting protesters through the building, including the now infamous ‘QAnon Shaman,’” he said.

“We’re about to show you surveillance footage from inside the United States Capitol. The images you’ll see were recorded 26 months ago today on January 6, 2021. Until now, politicians have kept this tape hidden from the public. There is no legitimate justification for that and there never has been,” Carlson added.

“Yet the beneficiaries of that election continue to lie about what is now obvious. The real crime, they will tell you again and again, is not what happened on Election Day, 2020. The real crime is what happened two months later, on January 6, when Donald Trump led an insurrection against the duly elected American government,” he said.

“To prove that claim and to divert attention from the details of the presidential election itself, Democrats in Congress impaneled what they called the House Select Committee on the January 6 attack,” Carlson said.

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“The point of that committee was to prevent Donald Trump from running for president again. In December of last year, committee members voted unanimously to refer Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. Mission accomplished,” he said.

President Donald Trump responded by congratulating Kevin McCarthy and Tucker Carlson for their “great courage” in releasing the footage and exposing the lies of Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell.

“A whole new, and completely opposite, picture has no been indelibly painted,” Trump said. “Thank you Kevin and Tucker. FREE AT LAST!!!”

Trump called Carlson’s work “one of the biggest ‘scoops’ as a reporter in U.S. history.”

The footage is condemning for Democrats, exposing the January 6th Select Committee as a “scam” and “criminal fabricator,” Trump said.