(LifeSiteNews) – Florida Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz has announced that Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy will release 14,000 hours of previously withheld tapes of the January 6th Capitol Riot.
Gaetz shared the news on a radio show hosted by Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student organization Turning Point USA.
Gaetz: Republicans will release “14,000 hours of [J6] tapes that have been hidden”
BAM!
Looks like truth about Pelosi’s Fed-Op is going to be exposed even further!
pic.twitter.com/ybf3RSgoow— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) January 10, 2023
When asked by Kirk if he “[anticipated] allowing the dogs to be released [against the federal agencies],” Gaetz said, “Kevin McCarthy told us he is going to get the evidence out in front of the American people, and that means releasing the 14,000 hours of tapes that have been hidden, that I think would give more full context to that day rather than the cherry-picked moments the January 6th Committee tried to use to inflame and further divide our country.”
“So, yes, I do believe that part of this deal is a concession that we are going to get the truth out in front of the American people,” Gaetz continued. The congressman also stated that McCarthy, in his victory speech for House Speaker, chose to mention the “weaponization of the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] specifically” rather than just the “weaponization of government.”
“His willingness to do that with particularity, I think, shows that he’s ready to lower his shoulder and get into this fight that so many Americans expect us to be in on behalf of civil rights that we hold dear,” Gaetz told Kirk.
McCarthy confirmed today that he will release the recordings:
Speaker McCarthy promises to release all of the security footage from January 6 pic.twitter.com/WgBYhSYRxZ
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 12, 2023
RELATED: Kevin McCarthy elected House speaker on 15th ballot
McCarthy was expected to become Speaker of the House after the Republicans retook the House in the November midterms. However, 20 Republican Representatives, including Gaetz, refused to vote for him despite his support from other Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who endorsed McCarthy for the position. McCarthy was eventually elected Speaker after making a deal with most of the holdouts. It included forming a select committee to investigate the “weaponization” of the FBI and Deep State against conservatives.
Contrasting McCarthy with previous Republican Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, Kirk suggested that he “wanted to be Speaker really badly, and said, ‘Wow, I’m not going to be Speaker if I don’t listen to these members and cut a deal.’”
“Is that a fair way to depict it or summarize it?” he asked Gaetz
“I think it is fair to say that we would not be in the position today had we a ‘smooth Tuesday,’” the congressman answered. “But I would rather have a turbulent four days and then come up with a process we all believe in, and commitments that we can rely on, than have a really smooth take off, and then have two years of turbulence and not really knowing what’s coming next. So I think this is a far preferable system.”
“I think we got our cards on the table right now,” continued Gaetz. “The American people know what to expect from a fighting Republican majority. The Senate knows what they can expect from us regarding how we are going to comport ourselves and handle the legislative process: professionally, like adults. And I thought it was interesting to hear people give speeches about the institution, about what drives decisions here in Washington, D.C., and we want to make this a better place.”
READ: Here’s what Matt Gaetz and his fellow conservatives won from Kevin McCarthy
Capitol Police have been accused of hiding the 14,000 hours of tape and having inadequate reasons for their refusal to release the footage to the public. Speaking to the Epoch Times in February last year, Jonathan Moseley, an attorney representing a January 6th defendant, said that the Capitol Police “don’t want the public to see that the vast majority of what went on was very peaceful.”
“…[T]he violent videos they’ve shown are all in just one location, or in a courtyard,” Moseley continued. “You know, they keep showing over and over again this battle in the archway—that’s just one entrance out of a building that’s 700 feet long. So I think it would dilute their narrative to show everything.” The footage, meanwhile, was released to both the House Administration Committee and Senate Rules Committee in March 2021.
The January 6th Committee was formed in the wake of the 2021 Capitol protests. Lawyers have criticized the panel for its overreach and harassment of those from whom it sought documents. Further, the Committee has been called by former President Donald Trump a “witch hunt” and “sham trial.” According to Trump, the Committee operated without due process or cross examination.
Democrats and left-leaning Republicans have attempted to prove that Trump orchestrated the January 6th riot, which broke out after Trump’s “March to Save America” rally, for nearly two years.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has consistently demonized Trump and his supporters as “threats to Democracy,” using the riot at the Capitol on January 6th as a political tool to go after conservatives.
Late last year, the Committee released the social security numbers of almost 2,000 Republicans, Trump supporters, and Trump cabinet members who visited the White House on one day in December 2020. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, her husband, daughters, son, and son-in-law were among them
Last week, Noem sent a letter to the White House, the National Archives, the Government Publishing Office, and Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Chairman of the January 6th Committee, asking how the social security numbers were leaked, what remedies were being taken, and what actions were being taken to protect her identity and the identities of her family. A spokesperson from Rep. Thompson’s office, when asked about the letter, said that the release was inadvertent.