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The Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has just promised that all previously unreleased security footage that was taken during the Jan. 6 events will soon be made public.
According to an article recently published by The Washington Times, McCarthy announced at a press conference Thursday that he wants to be “thoughtful” about releasing the footage, adding that he thinks “the public should see what happened on that day.”
McCarthy continued, “I watched what [then-House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi did, where she politicized it. For the first time in the history as a speaker, not allowing the minority to appoint to a committee,” he told reporters. “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.”
The announcement has certainly received attention and praise from people such as Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) who tweeted Thursday: “Thank you to the 20 patriots who helped EARN this commitment from the Speaker. Thank you @SpeakerMcCarthy for affirming this commitment you made. Keeping promises is how trust is built. I’m growing more optimistic by the day!”
It was further reported by The Daily Wire:
“The comments follow Rep. Gaetz saying on Wednesday that McCarthy ‘told us he’s going to get the evidence out in front of the American people and that means releasing the 14,000 hours of tapes that have been hidden.’
Gaetz, who was speaking with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, added that the 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.'”
It has already been over two years since Jan. 6, 2021, when a crowd breached the U.S. Capitol building in an effort to disrupt lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
At the time, there was a network of security cameras in and among the Capitol building that, according to Politico, has captured more than 14,000 hours of footage of the event that took place that day, specifically between noon and 8 p.m. To prevent its dissemination, the government, predictably, raised concerns that releasing the footage may threaten national security.
