CNN, along with a group of other media organizations, has signed on to a letter calling for congressional leaders to grant access to security footage from inside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy gave Fox News’ Tucker Carlson access to the material earlier this month.
In a Friday letter on behalf of the press coalition to McCarthy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, attorney Charles Tobin called on Congress to release all the security footage showing the attack on the Capitol.
“Without full public access to the complete historical record, there is concern that an ideologically-based narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness, with destabilizing risks to the legitimacy of Congress, the Capitol Police, and the various federal investigations and prosecutions of January 6 crimes,” Tobin said in the letter.
Advance Publications, ABC News, Axios, CBS News, Scripps, Gannett, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and ProPublica are the other media organizations joining CNN on the letter.
The request comes after Carlson announced on his show that he had been granted “unfettered” access to “44,000 hours” of surveillance footage from inside the Capitol on January 6. CNN previously reported that McCarthy did not consult with his House GOP leadership team or with Jeffries before deciding to give Carlson access.
In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, McCarthy justified the decision by saying, “I promised.”
“I was asked in the press about these tapes, and I said they do belong to the American public. I think sunshine lets everybody make their own judgment,” the California Republican told the Times.
McCarthy has…
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