A group of news organizations on Friday asked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to share thousands of hours of security footage from Jan. 6, after Fox News host Tucker Carlson said this week that he had access to nearly 44,000 hours of video from the attack. given. Capital.
“We understand that, in your capacity as Speaker of the House of Representatives, you recently granted the Tucker Carlson Tonight television program access to certain Congressional records – in particular, previously unavailable video from the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 footage,” wrote Laura Handman, the attorney representing the media outlets. “We write to request that news organizations be granted access to these materials.”
Among the news outlets that requested access were The Associated Press; NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC and Noticias Telemundo; the new York Times; and The Washington Post.
“There is no basis for further delay in granting this access to these news organizations or any other media outlet making a similar request,” Handman said.
McCarthy’s office has not responded to multiple inquiries from NBC News about access to the footage, but the California Republican defended his decision in a brief interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, saying, “I don’t know about these tapes.” was asked in the press, and I said they belong to the American public. I think Sunshine lets everyone make their own decision.”
McCarthy last January 6 told the head of the committee – a panel he opposed – that it was “imperative that all the information gathered [from the probe] Transparency must be preserved not only for institutional privileges but for the American people.
On his primetime show on Monday, Carlson said, “We believe we’ve earned the right to see whatever we want to see,” adding that he planned to bring viewers findings from the footage next week Is.
McCarthy was widely criticized by Democrats following Carlson’s announcement.
New York’s Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that McCarthy’s alleged decision to hand over the footage poses a “serious security risk” to lawmakers and Capitol staff.
Schumer said that the public release of the footage would “compromise the security of the legislative branch and allow those who want to launch another attack to know how Congress is secured.”
Julie Sirkin Contribution,
