'Dangerous' Jan. 6 defendant wants to delay trial to scour riot video released to Tucker Carlson

Ryan Nichols, an East Texas man accused of using chemical spray on police at the Capitol in the January 6 attack, received permission from the judge overseeing his case to pore over the tens of thousands of hours of security footage House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) turned over to Fox News, reported Politico.

"Jan. 6 defendant Ryan Nichols streamed some of the most violent rhetoric from the Capitol and was deemed dangerous by the federal judge overseeing his case. His lawyer says he’s been in touch with a House GOP aide about accessing 'abandoned' Jan. 6 committee files," wrote Cheney. "In a bizarre filing, Nichols’ lawyers, say they want to delay his trial to review the 41,000 hours of footage Speaker McCarthy made available to Tucker Carlson — and they want it released publicly for crowdsourcing purposes."

Per Cheney, Nichols' lawyers stated in a new filing they have been given permission to review the footage, which has not been publicly released since being turned over to Carlson.

Investigators on the House January 6 Committee released large amounts of security and police camera footage showing previously unseen moments of violence at the Capitol; however, tens of thousands of hours of raw data remain unreleased. McCarthy's move to turn it over to Carlson, a longtime apologist for the Capitol rioters, has sparked fears that he could selectively cherry-pick footage to portray violent insurrectionists as peaceful and Capitol Police as using unjustified force.

According to CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, the handful of high-level January 6 defendants still held in the D.C. jail pending trial have rejoiced over McCarthy's transmission of footage to Carlson, with a newsletter circulated around the jail stating, "I absolutely love the fact that Mr. McCarthy released the 44,000 hours of J6 footage. I'm so thankful for our fighters in Congress who extracted that promise from K-Mac's sweaty palm."

Last year, Nichols — who proclaimed on video the riot would be the "Second American Revolution" — tried to get his trial moved to his home in Longview, arguing that President Joe Biden's Philadelphia speech about protecting democracy was "prejudicial" to his case.

Shortly after, a federal judge released him from jail ahead of trial, ruling his confinement impeded his right to discovery, although he remains under house arrest in his wife's custody.