Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called on Monday for the public release of security camera footage taken during the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in February granted access to some 44,000 hours of footage to then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Carlson aired some clips in March and promised to air more of the unseen footage. Carlson since has parted ways with Fox News.
“A lot of people are asking me when we are going to release the J6 video tapes. Well I’m wondering the very same thing and waiting too,” Greene tweeted on Monday.
“The American people paid for the video cameras that are installed all over the Capitol building that they also pay for. And most of all the riot scenes have been shown repeatedly a gazillion times in loop for over two years anyways. It won’t give the Democrats anything new, but it might give us all something new,” she added.
Greene pointed to McCarthy’s decision to release footage to Carlson, saying the rest of the footage should now be released.
“We need to release the J6 tapes to a public on line source so that everyone knows what did and didn’t happen, we need to restore fair justice, and America can move on,” she said.
Carlson, who described the footage as “mostly peaceful chaos,” was faced with bipartisan outrage after he aired the footage of the day.
McCarthy also faced questions about whether his actions undermined security efforts after Capitol Police said they only reviewed one clip aired by Carlson.
The speaker previously said other media organizations eventually would get access to review the tapes. A coalition of news organizations filed a lawsuit last month demanding access to the surveillance footage.
The Hill has reached out to McCarthy’s office for comment on Greene’s tweet.
Greene repeatedly demanded the release of the Jan. 6 tapes in the months following the attack, but she has been quieter on the issue since helping McCarthy win the speaker’s gavel.
She tweeted in July 2021 that the Justice Department should release all 14,000 hours of tapes “that the tax payers already payed for instead of creating a controlled view of Jan 6 that cost $6.1 million taxpayer dollars.”
And she repeated the call in June 2022, ahead of the initial prime-time hearing held by the now-disbanded House Select Committee on Jan. 6.
“The American people deserve to know exactly what happened on January 6th, 2021. That won’t happen with the cut and paste Hollywood production we’re going to see tonight. Release all the tapes, let the American people know the truth!” she tweeted at the time.