Posted on 02/23/2023 11:48:31 AM PST by Michael.SF.
In a boon to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has afforded him exclusive access to tens of thousands of hours of heretofore unreleased Capitol Hill Police video of the turmoil surrounding and inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Pandora’s Box opened by this unusual move may not play out as smoothly as perhaps the Speaker hopes.
McCarthy did indicate last month that he favored public release of the vast trove of video footage that had been provided to House Democrats previously by the Hill police. His decision this month, however, to grant access not to the media generally but to a single commentator, surprised many on Capitol Hill.
House Democrats, especially those who served on the now-defunct January 6th Select Committee in the last Congress, have decried the Speaker’s decision as one that endangers congressional security. Crocodile tears in this regard – as shed for example by South Carolina Democrat Bennie Thompson who chaired the Select Committee – are misplaced.
Thompson bemoaned the “significant security concerns” that will result from the Speaker’s actions, but provided no meaningful details to support those fears. The fact is that House Democrats maintained access to the 40,000-plus feet of the video footage for more than two years, while selectively releasing various portions during their extended and one-sided investigation.
Claims that release of the entire video trove will enable would-be “insurrectionists” to better plan future attacks on the Capitol – a public building open to the public – are laughable. Such “security” concerns already had been rejected by at least one federal judge in 2021 in response to media demands, and portions of the otherwise restricted videos have served as evidence in several of the hundreds of criminal cases being prosecuted by the Justice Department.
The only such conceivable sensitive footage could be video showing “secret” hallways or hidden doors through which congressional leaders escaped or hid during the January 6th melee, but it is unlikely in the extreme that such footage exists. If in fact there are such secret passageways or doors – which during my eight years as a Member I never heard even vague reference to – it would be irresponsible in the extreme for the Capitol Hill Police to have positioned video cameras in such ways as to capture them being used.
Criticism of McCarthy’s move by other, non-Fox media outlets is simply hypocritical, considering that many of those very same news outlets, including CNN, had previously filed court suits to gain access to the video footage. Jealously is a far more likely motive for criticizing McCarthy than is “national security.”
Thus, releasing the video footage publicly makes sense and is in accord with the Speaker’s promise to bring a greater degree of transparency to the work of the House, and particularly regarding the one-sided January 6th Select Committee’s work.
Releasing the massive tranche to a single media commentator, however, makes no strategic sense and is not in accord with similar practices in the past, including those with which I was involved as a member of the House Oversight Committee during my tenure.
The decision to outsource the review of the police videos may have been made because Carlson, as a top Fox News commentator with significant staff and technology resources at his disposal, could better and more quickly catalog the materials. If so, this would be a sharp rebuke of the extensive staff resources already available to McCarthy and the various House committees with jurisdiction over aspects of the January 6th incidents.
If McCarthy’s decision to release the video to a friendly media source reflects a tactic designed to quell controversies surrounding the GOP’s nascent investigations, it will be doomed to fail, as other media outlets and interested parties undoubtedly already are drafting lawsuits to challenge the move.
Finally, without knowing which other House Members or staff have access to the videos, it is not unlikely that others may decide to release some or all of the videos to other news outlets, in a game of dueling releases. While such a move could subject such individual(s) to sanctions by the Republican House majority, the perpetrators most likely would deem it worth the price. And there is the precedent that whoever prematurely released last year’s Supreme Court abortion opinion was never identified.
Whatever happens now, Carlson’s ratings will at least temporarily spike and the Republican base will cheer, but the American public will once again see that raw partisanship still reigns on Capitol Hill.
This treacherous POS was up to his eyeballs shepherding the coup through all constitutional checks to its ultimate victory. Praise the day this vermin is rotting in hell.
The best solution is to give Tucker exclusive access for 2 - 3 months to broadcast the defining illegal acts of the government and the. To open it all up to anyone.
Who?
Tuck will probably put the ‘good stuff’ on Fox Nation.
Absolutely!
One reason why it should have been released to all.
Same ASSHOLE that had NO PROBLEM w/ Nancy’s niece doing video in office that day.
“grant access not to the media generally”
Horseshiite
We’ve seen the Left’s cover-up coverage of the tapes for over 2 years from every On The Take Corporate Media Shill.
Let Tucker have a whack at it.
Tucker is likely to emphasize what looks like exculpatory evidence and government agency participation in elevating the disorder. His early release of those clips will put the democrat press into action to cover what is now new video evidence.
If everybody received all the footage simultaneously, the democrat press would NEVER show anything that damaged the partisan committee narrative.
JUST IN: My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell threatens to sue House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for selectively releasing January 6th footage to Fox News.
“Fox is going to be the filter to the world?…Not gonna happen on my watch.”
JUST IN: My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell threatens to sue House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for selectively releasing January 6th footage to Fox News.
“Fox is going to be the filter to the world?…Not gonna happen on my watch.”
JUST IN: My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell threatens to sue House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for selectively releasing January 6th footage to Fox News.
“Fox is going to be the filter to the world?…Not gonna happen on my watch.”
“This treacherous POS was up to his eyeballs shepherding the coup through all constitutional checks to its ultimate victory.”
Methinks you are confusing Robert L. Barr with William P. Barr.
Bob Barr has not held office since 2003, I think. I did vote for him for president in 2008 and still think he would be better than 4 out of the last 5 to hold that office. Maybe
5 of the last 6.
He did make one mistake though Bennie Thompson is from Mississippi not South Carolina.
;)
I believe you are right. I too was confused by his original post.
Thanx, heard Mike a few minutes ago.
Goody. I like people turning government into a state of chaos instead of the government and their propagandists turning the people into a state of chaos. Or as the government likes to call it, “Content Influencing”.
We all know nothing really. We get glimpses and some cheap glue to piece things together. Let’s just keep gluing the pieces together.
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