Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) called for an investigation into the January 6th select committee after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) began releasing over 40,000 hours of footage from the Capitol riot of 2021.
Some of the videos were made available to the public on Friday while others will be released gradually over time.
Critics of the January 6th committee’s work suggest some of the videos counter the narrative of a mostly violent protest. Several clips show Capitol police clearing a path for those walking through the halls of the site where Democrats contend an “insurrection” took place.
The police facilitated January 6th
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) November 17, 2023
This is why they withheld the tapes
The J6 committee should be censured and expelled for lying to the public
pic.twitter.com/nO9tbNP4lH
🇺🇸Watch the Capitol Police clear the path for the MAGA Parade. Officers also casually chat and turn their backs on the scary American Patriots#J6Footage #J6 #MAGA #DilleyMemeTeam pic.twitter.com/UfeGRQvS2F
— miguelifornia (@miguelifornia) November 18, 2023
Other clips show curious behavior by some police officers who were said to have “held” the line against the forceful protesters.
I don’t think Capitol Police would take restraints off of a protester, FIST BUMP him, and then let him go if this were an actual “insurrection”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 17, 2023
pic.twitter.com/sR2N0lKvG7
While the various videos do not discount the violent actions of some individuals that day, they do provide context to a committee investigation that desperately tried to avoid providing any context to the public at all.
Senator Lee took specific aim at the two Republican former lawmakers who helped push Nancy Pelosi’s committee narrative, and who vocally opposed the release of the January 6th tapes.
“Why didn’t Liz Cheney and Adam Kizinger ever refer to any of these tapes? Maybe they never looked for them. Maybe they never even questioned their own narrative. Maybe they were just too busy selectively leaking the text messages of Republicans they wanted to defeat,” he wrote on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.
“We need to investigate the J6 committee,” Lee added in another post.
We need to investigate the J6 committee.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) November 18, 2023
Kinzinger And Cheney Respond
Kinzinger, the former Republican lawmaker from Illinois turned CNN contributor, lashed out at Lee for suggesting that the January 6th committee should be the subject of an investigation now that the full extent of the security footage is being revealed.
Kinzinger, best known for having openly wept during committee hearings with Capitol police officers who testified about their actions that day, repeatedly posted out-of-context meme-like social media rants in an effort to cloud the evidence provided by the new tapes.
He then offered this measured and reasonable response to Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who is also calling for an investigation of the committee.
“Literally there has been nothing to counter anything found, of course,” he claimed. “And they all know the truth. But by just simply saying ‘omg omg’ the brain worm victims bite off on it.”
“Zombies. For an ugly orange fatso no less,” Kinzinger added.
Literally there has been nothing to counter anything found, of course. And they all know the truth. But by just simply saying “omg omg” the brain worm victims bite off on it.
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) November 19, 2023
Zombies. For an ugly orange fatso no less pic.twitter.com/spazj5DtlZ
The level of projection in his post is stunning. Readers may recall that Kizinger almost used his gun on Trump supporters if they breached his office that day.
Cheney, who was soundly defeated in the midterms due in large part to her obsession with former President Donald Trump and his supporters, also responded to Lee’s call for an investigation.
“Hey [Senator Lee] – heads up. A nutball conspiracy theorist appears to be posting from your account,” she wrote.
Cheney was replying to another post from Lee that accused her and the committee of “deliberately” hiding evidence from the public.
Lee also openly wondered how many people in the riot footage provided by the committee were actually instigated by undercover federal informants, something FBI Director Christopher Wray has adamantly denied.
Literally there has been nothing to counter anything found, of course. And they all know the truth. But by just simply saying “omg omg” the brain worm victims bite off on it.
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) November 19, 2023
Zombies. For an ugly orange fatso no less pic.twitter.com/spazj5DtlZ
Lee, in turn, responded to Cheney by asking her about a report, also covered by The Political Insider, that the FBI allegedly had so many informants on the ground at the riot that they lost track of them.
Shouldn't the J6 committee have been demanding answers to this question?https://t.co/g6g2mm7zLV https://t.co/IQC10Saf1z
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) November 19, 2023
Cheney has yet to respond to that question.
Will The Investigators Be Investigated?
It’s difficult to ascertain if Senator Mike Lee’s threat to investigate the January 6th committee would have any teeth. On the one hand, if there’s anything Republicans love, it’s a good investigation that drags out years and earns them donations but ultimately fizzles out with nobody being held accountable.
On the other hand, do our readers really think the committee – especially the Republicans who feigned interest in a bipartisan effort while assuring the panel was wholly partisan – will ever be held accountable?
If nothing else, the release of the January 6th footage should be enough evidence for all Republican presidential candidates to promise to pardon a vast majority of the protesters who just happened to be on Capitol grounds that day and thought, as videos show, the police were okay with their presence.
They were, critics contend, victims of malicious political prosecution at the hands of the Joe Biden Department of Justice.
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appears to agree with that sentiment, reposting an X post by Political Insider Rusty Weiss.
“Now that the truth has been revealed, it should be pretty easy for every Republican candidate to make the same pledge as
@VivekGRamaswamy vowing to pardon Trump and a vast majority of the J6 political prisoners,” Weiss wrote. “Anyone who refuses to make that promise should be disqualified.”
Now that the truth has been revealed, it should be pretty easy for every Republican candidate to make the same pledge as @VivekGRamaswamy vowing to pardon Trump and a vast majority of the J6 political prisoners.
— Rusty 🎙️ (@rustyweiss74) November 18, 2023
Anyone who refuses to make that promise should be disqualified. https://t.co/1nciYig4qb
Previous footage of the events on January 6th, 2021, released by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson appeared to contradict several narratives put forth by the Select Committee.
Various clips showed Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick appearing well and amply defended from physicality, despite claims that he was killed by the mob, as well as evidence that the “Qanon Shaman” was readily escorted by police around the complex, seemingly contradicting assertions that his behavior warranted a multi-year prison sentence.
And there was much, much more.
Trump, like Ramaswamy, demanded those imprisoned that day be released.
“The New Surveillance Footage of the January 6th Events sheds an entirely different light on what actually happened,” he wrote on his Truth Social media platform. “LET THEM GO FREE, NOW!”
President Trump: “Congratulations to Tucker Carlson on one of the biggest “scoops” as a reporter in U.S. history. The New Surveillance Footage of the January 6th Events sheds an entirely different light on what actually happened. The Unselect Committee was a giant SCAM…” pic.twitter.com/nRKgQl9cx4
— Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) March 8, 2023
Kinzinger and Cheney both parlayed their performance on the J6 committee into money-making career moves.
Cheney was appointed as a Professor of Practice for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia (UVA), where she claimed that she would “contribute to finding lasting solutions that not only preserve but strengthen our democracy.”
Kinzinger was hired as a contributor to the lowest-rated network news channel on television today, which is CNN, and had to sell autographed copies of the January 6th select committee final report online for $100.
Emotional Adam Kinzinger.
— Hotep Davei 𝕏 (@Davei_Boi) November 18, 2023
Former Republican Congressman & former J6 Committee member 👇 pic.twitter.com/D3t28hFM7g
via politicalinsider
