Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said he has “no indication” that Capitol Police vetted the footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that Fox News host Tucker Carlson says he plans to air.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave Carlson access to some 41,000 hours of footage last month in a move widely criticized by Democrats over security concerns.
“I have no indication at this moment that the police have vetted that footage. It is my hope and expectation that that will absolutely occur,” Jeffries said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“But … here’s the more important issue. President Biden won the election. People on the extreme right know that President Biden won the election. But Donald Trump perpetrated a big lie, that big lie had real consequences. It led to and incited a violent insurrection. And it’s that type of political extremism that we need to move beyond in America,” Jeffries said.
The House Democratic leader stressed the footage “must absolutely be vetted” before it is made public.
“The Jan. 6 insurrection was violent. Approximately 140 officers were seriously injured. A handful of officers died as a result of the events, of the Jan. 6 violent insurrection. There are serious security concerns,” Jeffries said.
“We’re releasing footage into the public domain in an era where political violence is on the rise, and there are people, including the former president, who fan the flames of extremism.”
Jeffries had previously slammed the move as an “egregious security beach.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said McCarthy was “needlessly exposing the Capitol complex to one of the worst security risks since 9/11” in providing the footage to Carlson.
Carlson has teased that he would begin airing some of the footage this week but House Republicans have tried to pump the brakes on releasing it to the public. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), the chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, said last week that his panel is working with the sergeant-at-arms and Capitol Police to make sure the footage that is released will not pose a security risk.