Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has said he plans to release the U.S. Capitol security footage from Jan. 6 in “exactly the way Elon Musk” published the “Twitter Files.”
As Slay News reported, McCarthy confirmed last week that he plans to make all of the footage from that day public.
McCarthy reportedly agreed to release all of the videos as part of a deal with GOP holdouts to secure the speakership.
Speaking during an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” McCarthy said Musk’s “Twitter Files” serve as a model for how U.S. Capitol security footage from January 6, 2021, could be released to the public.
McCarthy told Bartiromo that he is looking to release the tapes because of the “politicization” he believes has been fostered by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the Democrats’ anti-Trump January 6 Committee.
The speaker referred to how Twitter, under the leadership of CEO Elon Musk, gave access to troves of internal communications to a group of independent journalists.
They have been reviewing the files freely sharing details of their findings via “Twitter Files” threads on the pro-free speech social media platform.
“The best way to handle this is exactly the way Elon Musk [did]: Just put all the information out there and let people see what is truth and what is not,” McCarthy said.
“So, the best way to do that is to release the tapes.
“People can know for themselves instead of picking and choosing what views they want people to see.”
WATCH:
.@SpeakerMcCarthy: I don’t know what’s in the January 6 tapes, but I think they need to be released so the people can see for themselves what transpired. pic.twitter.com/XXUnM7pUWD
— The Dirty Truth (Josh) (@AKA_RealDirty) January 15, 2023
Capitol Police say the system of cameras captured more than 14,000 hours of footage between noon and 8 p.m. on the day a crowd of people entered the U.S. Capitol.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has spoken out in favor of releasing all of the footage.
In an interview on CNN, Gaetz declared that this footage “would give more full context to that day rather than the cherry-picked moments the January 6 Committee tried to use to inflame and further divide our country.”
Gaetz said the footage could also provide exculpatory evidence to Jan. 6 defendants.
He also dismissed concerns about how disclosing the tapes could jeopardize security.
“I think that it’s an argument made by the Department of Justice because they don’t want to expose the extent to which there might have been federal assets or agents enhancing criminal acuity,” he said.
WATCH:
.@RepMattGaetz Responds To Claim That Releasing The 14k Hours Of 1/6 Footage Would Jeopardize Security
"I think that it's an argument made by the DOJ because they don't want to expose the extent to which there might have been federal assets or agents enhancing criminal acuity." pic.twitter.com/Jv1Fycyfyz
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) January 15, 2023
McCarthy told reporters last week he wants to be “very thoughtful” about releasing Capitol security footage but stressed that he is “engaged to do that.”
The speaker told Bartiromo on Sunday that he had not yet seen the videos.
“I just think they should be released,” he added.
