Media coverage of riots in Virginia’s Capitol: Nancy Pelosi and M. Schumer in a studio with C-SPAN
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is shown in a new video talking to Virginia’s governor about help for the capitol.
Other footage showed congressional leaders — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Steve Scalise — in secure locations working the phones to ensure their colleagues were safe. They are in a state of turmoil with tense scenes of the rioters chanting outside.
At one point, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sit on a bench talking to Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen on speakerphone, calmly acknowledging that rioters are ransacking their officers and expressing concerns about their personal safety.
“They’re breaking the law in many different ways,” Pelosi says. “And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the United States.”
The footage was taken by Pelosi with her mother, who was also a documentary filmmaker, according to the reporter.
The camera shots used in the House coverage are different from the widepans used in C-SPAN on a day to day basis.
Normally, the House forbids independent media coverage of proceedings, meaning that networks must rely on a government feed for coverage. But when there are special events taking place in the House, such as the election for speaker, independent coverage is allowed.
He said it would be wonderful if we could provide this kind of coverage when there was more than one thing going on in Congress. “We hope the day cameras are much more frequently allowed in there than they are now.”
For example, C-SPAN’s cameras showed Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, who has voted against Kevin McCarthy for speaker, on the floor speaking Tuesday with Democratic Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. According to Lauren Hitt, Gosar asked if Democrats would leave the floor to vote in favor of McCarthy, so that he could have a lower threshold. Hitt reported that Gosar was told there wasn’t a plan to do that.
The two people are next to each other. The House voted to censure Gosar and remove him from committees in November 2021 after Gosar photoshopped an anime video to social media showing him appearing to kill Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden.
Tucker Carlson’s view of the US Capitol Security Video from January 6: A case for exposing the FBI and the Axios report
“We are able to show Paul Gosar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sitting down and speaking to one another. Ben O’Connell, C-SPAN’s director of editorial operations, told me that they were able to show Gaetz and Jordan before the next vote. “We are able to show scrums of members migrate across the floor as negotiations go on. You do not see that during standard coverage.
C-SPAN would love to be able to do this more often. It has petitioned Congress dozens of times over the years for greater editorial discretion over the camera shots it chooses to air.
“I think it is really important for journalists to be behind the cameras rather than the government be behind the cameras,” O’Connell added. “We, during a typical legislative day, have a government entity covering the government. And I think it would be invaluable to have journalists behind the camera instead.”
When cameras were first allowed, they became a potent political weapon. In the 1980s and early 1990s, congressmen such as Republican Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia – later the House speaker – would give speeches criticizing Democrats meant only for the TV cameras. There would be few people in the chamber, and since lawmakers could speak on any subject, it seemed as if there were no answers from the other side.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has granted Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to all of the US Capitol security footage from January 6, multiple sources told CNN.
After facing pressure from his right flank, the Speaker of the House decided to turn over a huge amount of internal government data to a news outlet.
McCarthy promised to hold hearings on security failures that led to the capitol getting overrun, and he instructed the select committee to preserve all of the records for possible future review by the GOP majority.
Carlson said on his program that his team was looking at the security footage. He has been a key figure in spreading false claims related to the siege, including incorrect claims that “antifa” groups or the FBI could be to blame for the attack.
A Fox News spokesperson told CNN that the Axios report was accurate, but declined further comment. Carlson told CNN that there was no legitimate reason for the footage to remain a secret, and that the videos would show what transpired on January 6.
McCarthy said he was in favor of Pelosi releasing the full January 6 security footage when he was asked about that at a press conference last month. The public should be able to see what happened.
U.S. Capitol Police had already shared the security footage with Congress, meaning top congressional leaders and committees can now access and share the tapes.
Tim Mulvey, a former January 6 committee spokesman, blasted McCarthy’s move in a statement to CNN, saying, “It’s hard to overstate the potential security risks if this material were used irresponsibly” by Carlson or others.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson is not allowed to release the January 6 U.S. Capitol surveillance footage unless it’s given to the general public
The January 6 defendants have access to a large amount of footage but are not allowed to publicly release it because of a protective order.
The Justice Department prosecutors wrote in their memo that once the capabilities of a U.S. Capitol interior surveillance camera are disclosed to the public, the cat is out of the bag.
Democrats are sounding the alarm that a Fox News host’s access to thousands of hours of security tapes from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol could endanger the Capitol further and trigger a new wave of disinformation.
He issued the warning following reporting by Axios that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy granted Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to more than 40,000 hours of the tapes.
The House Democrats received a briefing from the former chair of the Select Committee, Mississippi congressman Bennie Thompson, on Wednesday afternoon.
The people who work in the Capitol, and the people who go there, are protected, but Thompson is not comfortable with that. “There are some things that shouldn’t be made available to the general public.”
Thompson explained the process the select committee followed to get into the security footage, but he is concerned that the same procedures aren’t in place today.
The Capitol Police Chief said that it must be given to congressional oversight committees when they ask for it.