OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz is applauding House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for “fulfilling the commitment” to several lawmakers to release nearly 14,000 hours of footage from the incident at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Bravo, Speaker McCarthy. This was not an agreement that we had at the beginning of last week, but as the week progressed, Speaker McCarthy, to his great credit, understood this was important to a great many of us. And when we get these 14,000 hours out, we’re going to be able to see the extent to which the federal agents and assets that were present that day, may or may not have increased the level of criminal acuity. We’re going to be able to see their coordination with one another,” Gaetz said during an interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“And we’re also going to be able to see if there is exculpatory evidence that would show that people never intended to violate a law, even though they might have been technically out of compliance with whatever the standard was, at that time, based on the Vice President’s movements that they probably weren’t aware of anyway,” Gaetz continued. “It is interesting, though, that at every time from the JFK files to 9/11, to now January 6, it’s our own government, it is our own Department of Justice, that seems to stand in the way of transparency. The Speaker of the House is now fulfilling the commitment he made to us, and he deserves a great deal of credit for it.”
“Amen. I feel the same way, and I had similar views about McCarthy,” host Tucker Carlson replied. “That’s the ones you had, but I’m so thankful for this.”
WATCH:
McCarthy tore into Democrats last week following news of President Joe Biden having classified documents at a private office in Washington, D.C., that he used on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania.
During an appearance on Fox News, McCarthy spoke about the latest development and what Republicans are planning to do now that they control the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Let me ask you this question. What did you make of this story about Joe Biden and top secret classified information, especially after what he said about President Trump, especially after the raid at Mar-a-Lago, especially after Hillary Clinton? Remember, the July 2016 press conference. Jim Comey said no reasonable prosecutor would ever prosecute way more top secret classified information, never mind the deleted e-mails with BleachBit and the destroyed devices with hammers and the removal of SIM cards. What does that mean now, in terms of all those Democrats that wanted Donald Trump arrested almost immediately?” Hannity asked.
“They have to eat their words, but the hypocrisy. Think about this. They have gotten away with so much for so long. This was discovered before the last election, just like the laptop. They think they can lie to the American public. They think they can control the media, and control companies to shut down if one media company writes about it. They think they’re above the law. Why weren’t they raided? Why didn’t they have the FBI coming in? Why didn’t he on “60 Minutes” say, well, I understand that because I bet I have the same problem?” McCarthy asked.
“Did Barack Obama have some of this when he was writing his book? Does Hillary Clinton have some? And you know what? All those people have been in government for years. President Trump just ran for president. Do you think he knew everything? Do you think he went and moved his own boxes? And you know what? They were locked away. Biden’s were not. And how many years after did he have them?” he added.
“The FBI actually went to Mar-a-Lago. They looked at all those documents. They asked for a padlock. The padlock request was granted, and then, all of a sudden, a raid,” Hannity said.
McCarthy responded: “They think the law doesn’t apply to them. They think they write their own. And that’s what infuriates the American public. America believes in fairness and honesty. And that’s not what we’re getting from them.”
