House Intelligence Chair Praises Release of J6 Tapes: ‘It’s Important for Americans to Know the Truth’

Rep. Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, commended newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson for finally releasing a portion of footage from the January 6 riot.

In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, host Kristen Walker pressed Turner on whether it was responsible for Johnson to release the tapes amid warnings from Capitol Police the move would jeopardize the security of the Capitol complex.

“Let me ask you quickly about the newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. He just made the decision to release and he started the process of 40,000 of footage from January 6. The Capitol Police have expressed real concerns that could jeopardize the security of the Capitol,” Walker said. “Do you think it was responsible to release all of the footage from January 6?”

“It’s important for Americans to know the truth. This has been fraught with an unbelievable amount of misinformation and untruths,” Turner replied.

“When you see the footage yourself, it’s going to give you an understanding of what was there and what occurred that day,” he continued. “Because we’re currently only depending on really partisan descriptions of what happened. Now the American people can see.”

Walker claimed GOP lawmakers have “cherrypicked some of the images to further conspiracies” and intentionally misrepresent what those images depict.

“Are you comfortable with that,” she asked Turner.

“I think it’s been cherry-picked by both sides,” particularly the January 6 House Select Committee, Turner said.

Walker asked Turner to address theories about January 6 being a fedsurrection, an orchestrated effort to attack and incriminate Trump supporters.

“Let me ask you about your Republican colleagues in the wake of this footage being released,” she said. “Are you comfortable with, for example, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posting–suggesting, that this was an inside job by the Capitol Police? She removed the tweet of course, but does that make you uncomfortable?”

“You’ll have to talk to Marjorie Taylor Green about that,” Turner said. “But what I will say is it’s important that the Speaker has taken this step because now people can see the truth.”

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