2023-11-17 23:19:03
The new leader of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has announced that he will release thousands of hours of video surveillance footage of the Capitol attack. “To restore Americans’ trust in their government, we must create transparency,” he said on Friday.
The publication will give millions of Americans, lawyers, public interest organizations and media the opportunity to see for themselves what happened that day, he said. The material will be gradually published on the website of a committee of the Chamber of Parliament. The faces of private individuals should be made unrecognizable.
With the move, Johnson is reportedly fulfilling a promise he made to the ultra-right in his group before the election for the top job. They repeatedly falsely claim that the violent attack was a peaceful demonstration. Supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the parliament building in Washington on January 6, 2021. Congress met there to formally confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. Trump had previously incited his supporters during a speech. As a result of the riots, five people died.
There had already been disputes regarding the surveillance recordings in the past. Johnson’s predecessor in the congressional post, Kevin McCarthy, had given recordings exclusively to the then Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson. The right-wing talk show host showed a few selected pictures and commented on them in the spirit of Trump. Carlson is known for spreading conspiracy theories and was fired from Fox News a few months ago. At the time, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger called Carlson’s compilation of the video footage misleading.
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