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I’ve been writing about the media and the Democratic freak-outs in response to Tucker Carlson’s coverage of the Jan. 6 video footage.

But one of the other responses — that of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — also has gotten a lot of attention, as my colleague Terri Christoph reported.

Here’s what Mitch said, speaking out against the coverage.

BREAKING: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls it a "mistake" for Tucker Carlson and Fox News to release the never-before-seen J6 footage. pic.twitter.com/8d2c75Z3eK

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 7, 2023

“With regard to the presentation on Fox News last night, I want to associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of the Capitol police about what happened on January 6.”

How can more videos of what happened be wrong? House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) got it right — this is about transparency. This video should have been released long ago. The Democrats didn’t do it, and it wasn’t because they gave a good gosh darn about “security.” As McCarthy revealed they didn’t even vet the videos they used with the Capitol Police about that question. McCarthy did. They only wanted to use videos that fit their narrative.

Yes, there was violence, Tucker Carlson never disputed that. But what he showed was other aspects pointing out parts of the Democrats and the Jan. 6 Committee narrative that was false, misleading, or missing facts. The Committee’s political agenda was also clear — to try to use the event to go after Republicans, in particular, former President Donald Trump to help them in the midterms. To not publicly recognize that is to fail to understand what was truly going on with the Committee. Not calling it out or properly dealing with things like this may explain why Mitch isn’t Senate Majority Leader right now.

Twitter head Elon Musk who hasn’t been shy about commenting on the release had a pretty sage comment about McConnell’s remarks.

I keep forgetting which party he belongs to

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

“I keep forgetting which party he belongs to,” Elon Musk wryly said, laying him bare.

Indeed. So do we all sometimes and that’s a problem. Many responded to Musk, saying “uni party” which I think was the point Elon was making. Tucker Carlson also went there during his remarks about the reactions to the coverage. Elon was able to understand withholding the video and the Jan. 6 committee misleading for a political agenda was wrong, yet Mitch is not challenging the Democrats where they need to be challenged here. That’s a problem if he’s supposed to be the Republican leader in the Senate. He also should be defending Fox’s free speech even as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tries to suppress it and target them.

As my colleague Kira Davis so beautifully described it, this is the “attitude of the gatekeeper” — the folks who think they get to control what you see. For your own good of course. It isn’t up to you to see the facts yourself and make up your mind. You must stand with the written depiction that they give to you. Elon is questioning that, we are questioning that. And that’s why the panic is so thick at this moment.