House Democrats have begun planning a meeting to discuss Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) actions in providing Fox News host Tucker Carlson with access to surveillance footage from the January 6 Capitol protests.
In a letter to his Democrat colleagues on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) claimed that his team was “working to confirm the precise nature of the video transfer” — calling it a “reported breach” that poses potential risks to national security.
The planned virtual caucus meeting that is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon will now include presentations from Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), ranking member of the House Administration Committee, and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), former chairman of the now-disbanded January 6 Committee.
Hakeem Jeffries writes in a Dear Colleague to Dems: "The apparent transfer of video footage represents an egregious security breach that endangers the hardworking women and men of the United States Capitol Police, who valiantly defended our democracy with their lives at risk" https://t.co/HGXeQN1TBq pic.twitter.com/iHWA28jjKs
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) February 21, 2023
Their meeting comes after Axios reported that McCarthy (R-CA) had shared 41,000 hours of surveillance footage from the Capitol protests with Carlson.
After the report came out, Carlson spoke out about the news on his show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
The Fox News host stated that his team has been provided with what they believe to be “unfettered” access to the footage — noting that he plans to start sharing his findings next week.
“Some of our smartest producers have been there looking at this stuff, trying to figure out what it means and how it contradicts, or not, the story that we’ve been told for more than two years,” Carlson said. “We think already that in some ways it does contradict that story.”
Tucker Carlson Announces That His Show Has Been Granted Access To 44k Hours Of Footage From January 6th
"We believe that access is unfettered. We believe we have secured the right to see whatever we want to see."
"We're going to spend the rest of this week taking a look at it,… https://t.co/sK7691S0n8 pic.twitter.com/GnPvtbENg5
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) February 21, 2023
McCarthy previously announced his decision to release the footage to the American people because of the “polarization” he had seen being caused by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the Democrat-controlled January 6 Committee’s refusal to be transparent about the issue — as the committee hid the footage from the public and instead only revealed clips that could further their “insurrection narrative.
“I think the public should see what happened on that day. I watched what Nancy Pelosi did, where she politicized it,” McCarthy told reporters. “Where for the first time in the history as a Speaker, not allowing the minority to appoint to a committee. We watched the politicization of this. I think the American public should actually see what happened instead of a report that’s written on a political basis.”
Speaker McCarthy promises to release all of the security footage from January 6 pic.twitter.com/WgBYhSYRxZ
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 12, 2023
In his letter to Democrat lawmakers, Jeffries argued that the partisan committee had followed “numerous protocols” in viewing the security footage from the Capitol protests, claiming that there is “no indication” that those same “precautionary measures” were taken by McCarthy and Carlson.
According to CNN, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger has confirmed that the footage had been provided to McCarthy.
“When congressional leadership or congressional oversight committees ask for things like this, we must give it to them,” he said.
Several Democrats have already gone on unhinged rants about Carlson reviewing the footage, claiming that he pushes misinformation that fuels so-called Russian propaganda.
In a tweet, disgraced Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) called the Fox News host a “right-wing propagandist” who “spews Kremlin talking points,” and condemned Carlson for questioning the Democrat narrative surrounding January 6.
Kevin McCarthy turned over Jan 6 videos to right-wing propagandist Tucker Carlson.
A man who spews Kremlin talking points. Suggests Jan 6 was a false flag. And spreads the Big Lie.
Make no mistake: This isn’t about transparency, it’s about fueling dangerous conspiracy theories.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 20, 2023
