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Kevin McCarthy attacks Democrats over Jan. 6 footage to distract from his own questionable plan [1]

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Date: 2023-03-01

“What we showed to the public was video that we vetted through general counsel, we vetted through the chief of the Capitol Police,” Thompson told reporters. “And under no circumstances did we push out anything that we felt that would have violated any aspect of the security of this area.”

McCarthy’s attack on Democrats is an obvious effort to cover for the difficult spot he finds himself in. He’s under pressure from the far-right members of his conference as well as from prominent figures like Carlson to do so, and he has described himself as having “promised” to release the footage. But now he’s trying to claim that this wasn’t part of the deal he made to squeak through as speaker after 15 votes; it’s just a “promise” he made in answering a question at a press conference. Sure, Kevin, sure.

“The Speaker is saying that this is about public accountability and transparency. But that is totally belied by the fact that he gave it to one extreme person in the media,” The Hill quoted Rep. Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip, as saying.

Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene understands that there are security problems with releasing much of the footage. “We can’t give away our national security,” she told CNN around the time McCarthy was conspicuously not taking questions on this issue. “Everyone in Congress agrees. And I think the American people agree. We don’t want Russia or China or any of these other countries being able to study all the entries and exits of our capital. That’s foolish.”

So now that the wisdom of offering it all up to Tucker Carlson is being widely questioned—with the questions renewed every time a new story about Fox News acting as a wing of the Republican Party emerges—McCarthy is filled with excuses. He didn’t know how much footage there was when he made his promises. Carlson doesn’t want footage of “exit routes” that could compromise efforts to safely remove lawmakers in the case of another attack on the Capitol. Democrats did it first.

For their part, Democrats are pushing for McCarthy to at least explain what he is doing here. Are there formal written procedures for the release of the footage? “If they don’t have anything in writing … then I say it’s a bad idea,” Thompson said, while Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, said they’d get there … eventually.

”We’re working on putting protocols together and policies and procedures and schedules,” said Loudermilk. Protocols and policies and procedures and schedules. That sounds extremely official and trustworthy, doesn’t it?

Like so many other things with this Republican House under Kevin McCarthy’s very, very weak leadership—and as he struggles to fulfill all the promises he made to get his hands on the speaker’s gavel—this is a stupid, confusing mess. It’s really their signature.

Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego has thrown his hat into the ring! Gallego will to try to take progressive-turned-bizarre-centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s seat in 2024. Today on The Brief, Markos and Rep. Gallego talk about the state of the country and his campaign, and what Americans want from the officials they elect to office.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/1/2155638/-Kevin-McCarthy-attacks-Democrats-over-Jan-6-footage-to-distract-from-his-own-questionable-plan

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