WATCH: Writer Forcibly Removed From Kevin McCarthy Presser After Asking About His Opposition to Jan. 6 Commission
A writer was forcibly removed from a press conference with Kevin McCarthy in Florida on Thursday after he asked about the House minority leader’s opposition to a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol.
I tried to ask @GOPLeader McCarthy a question after he decried Cuban police pickup up people in the streets.
Why does he oppose the bipartisan #January6thCommission?
A Congressional staffer had four cops pick me up and drag me from the room.
I still asked the question. pic.twitter.com/HDqrhvARaC
— Grant Stern is fully vaccinated (@grantstern) August 5, 2021
“Minority leader, you said that the 1960 revolution, it created tyranny on the island of Cuba. And I am asking you a question,” said Grant Stern in a video he posted shortly thereafter on Twitter which has gotten 2 million views.
“It’s not a Democratic or Republican issue,” Stern continued as he was taken out of the presser by what he later said were four police officers. “So, why do you oppose the January 6 Commission, sir? Why do you oppose the January 6 Commission, sir?”
In his Twitter post with the video, Grant wrote, “I tried to ask @GOPLeader McCarthy a question after he decried Cuban police pickup up people in the streets. Why does he oppose the bipartisan #January6thCommission? A Congressional staffer had four cops pick me up and drag me from the room. I still asked the question.”
McCarthy spokesperson Matt Sparks told The Independent that “congressional staff had nothing to do [with] his removal.”
McCarthy opposed the creation of a 9/11-style commission that would have been bipartisan to investigate what happened on that January day as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s presidential electoral victory. McCarthy said he opposed the commission because it would have only investigated that day and not other matters.
“Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the Speaker’s shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation,” said McCarthy in a statement in May.
A select committee was formed thereafter to investigate the January 6 riot. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two of McCarthy’s five picks for that committee. In response, McCarthy yanked all his picks.
Watch the exchange above.
