I can’t help but wonder if Capitol Police Chief Manger would dare to arrest McCarthy for this faux pas and, I suspect, criminal act:
Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s apparent deal to grant Tucker Carlson access to thousands of hours of Capitol security footage from Jan. 6, 2021 came as a surprise to at least one official with oversight responsibility over those files: Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger.
A person familiar with the matter said Manger told associates he didn’t learn of the arrangement between McCarthy and Carlson until it began publicly circulating Monday. Capitol Police have been extremely reluctant to share large swaths of their security footage, citing potential risks to lawmakers, aides and officers tasked with protecting the building.
House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland also told associates he learned about it around the same time Axios broke the news Monday, the person familiar said. [Politico]
I think that if Manger has the nominal authority to arrest McCarthy for overstepping his bounds, then Manger ought to do so.
Sure, the right wing would utterly lose it, as that’s how to harvest money from their listeners, just as if a similar situation were to happen to the Democrats. But that shouldn’t affect Manger, just as the thought of upsetting a powerful politician – and that’s McCarthy, no matter how much damage he’s absorbed from the fringiest of his party in order to gain the Speaker’s position – happens to be.
If he has the authority and doesn’t use it, well, that sounds quite Roman, bowing to power when he shouldn’t.
And I would be deeply amused to see McCarthy’s mug shot.
