Former President Donald Trump told Breitbart News exclusively he is very pleased that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made the decision to release surveillance footage from the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
McCarthy’s move to provide some tapes to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which aired last week, captured the attention of the nation because the tapes Carlson aired undercut several official narratives proffered previously by the now-defunct House January 6 Select Committee. McCarthy, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News last week, pledged that he will release the entire cache of surveillance footage publicly once congressional advisers finish poring over its contents and removing anything that would threaten security.
Trump, for his part, was very pleased with McCarthy’s move. In an interview late last week focused mostly on his new forthcoming book Letters to Trump, the former president praised the speaker profusely saying his decision was “fantastic” and “brave” and would go down in history as one of the most important things McCarthy has done as an elected official.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) during a Rose Garden event May 4, 2017, at the White House in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“I think it’s a fantastic thing he did. I think it’s a brave thing he did,” Trump said. “I think it’s one of the most consequential acts he’s done as a politician and everybody is very happy with him. He’s doing a wonderful job as Speaker.”
Trump went to bat for McCarthy during his contentious run-up to the speakership in which the California congressman fought through 15 ballots over four days to finally win the gavel late Friday night. Trump made phone calls for McCarthy in the weeks leading up to the speakership election after endorsing him in an interview with Breitbart News in Miami in early December and even called the final holdouts that fateful Friday night to push them to back McCarthy for the job and drop their opposition.
Trump told Breitbart News he is pleased with McCarthy in the job so far, and he is glad he made those calls to help get him the gavel.
“I’m very proud of him,” Trump said. “I think he’s done a great job. This was a great thing he did for the country.”
McCarthy, in his long-form exclusive on-camera interview with Breitbart News taped in the ceremonial speaker’s office, said he intends to release the full batch of tapes soon.
Matthew Perdie / Breitbart News, Jack Knudsen / Breitbart News , Zenny Phuong / Breitbart News
“We just want to make sure we go through them all, and it takes time,” McCarthy said. “The first thing that Tucker said too, he didn’t want to show any exits to cause any problems. We asked the Capitol Police, ‘Were there any concerns?’ They came back with one, and we mitigated that, but it was interesting, that one that they had a problem with, Eric Swalwell had had up on the internet for the last two years showing that part.”
Carlson’s show aired only a few minutes of tapes last week, but McCarthy said there are more than 42,000 hours of tape to go through that will be released publicly — far more than what the January 6 Committee, which was run by Democrats in the last Congress, said existed.
More from McCarthy’s interview, taped as the latest installment in Breitbart News’s On The Hill long-form video series, is forthcoming soon.