McCarthy, who granted Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson
exclusive access to the footage last week, also told reporters
that he would eventually make what he described as more than
45,000 hours of footage available to all media outlets.
"I'll give it out to the entire country," said the California
Republican, who first announced his plan to release security
footage days after being elected speaker in early January.
Supporters of Republican former President Donald Trump stormed
the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, disrupting lawmakers as they worked
to certify Democratic President Joe Biden's 2020 election
victory over Trump.
The former president continues to make false claims that the
election was stolen from him through massive election fraud.
Prosecutors have brought criminal charges against more than 950
people following the assault. Four people died during the chaos,
and five police officers died of various causes after the
attack.
McCarthy told reporters that Jan. 6 defendants had been able to
access some security footage before he became speaker. But he
added: "If they need it now, we'd supply that."
A McCarthy spokesman said the House Administration Subcommittee
on Oversight will work to schedule time for any attorney who
represents a defendant and has asked for access.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the chamber's No. 2
Republican, told reporters that lawmakers would make sure that
any public releases would not include sensitive material.
"What gets released is going to obviously be scrutinized to make
sure that you're not exposing any sensitive information,"
Scalise said.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
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