Jeffries slams providing Fox with Jan. 6 footage as ‘egregious security breach’

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) slammed Republicans providing Fox News with footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as an “egregious security beach.” 

Jeffries said in a letter to his Democratic colleagues in the House that officials are trying to confirm the “precise nature” of the transfer of videos from the attack. 

“The apparent transfer of video footage represents an egregious security breach that endangers the hardworking women and men of the United States Capitol Police, who valiantly defended our democracy with their lives at risk on that fateful day,” he said. 

The New York Democrat’s letter came after reports surfaced that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) provided Tucker Carlson and his team access to 41,000 hours of surveillance footage from the U.S. Capitol around the time that the riot happened. 

Carlson has repeatedly questioned the events that led up to the attack and that happened during the day. 

Jeffries said the Democratic Caucus will hear from Reps. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Administration Committee, and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) — who served as the chairman of the House select committee that investigated Jan. 6 attack — during a virtual meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. 

Thompson denounced the release of the footage in a statement on Monday, saying that “It’s hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were to be used irresponsibly.” 

“Over the past two years, the bipartisan Members of the January 6th Committee were able to diligently review the security footage in question, with numerous protocols in place to protect the safety of the Members, police officers and staff who were targeted during the violent insurrection,” he said. “There is no indication that these same precautionary measures have been taken in connection with the transmission of the video footage at issue.” 

McCarthy said during a press conference last month that he wanted to provide additional footage of the insurrection to the public and accused Democrats of politicizing the committee’s investigation. 

Jeffries said the disclosure of the material seems to be “yet another example of the grave threat to security” that the “extreme MAGA Republican majority” poses.