OAN’s Brooke Mallory
6:04 PM – Sunday, September 3, 2023
On Friday, House Republicans published a guideline allowing “first come, first served” access for qualified individuals to view security footage from the U.S. Capitol breach on January 6th, 2021.
The Capitol security footage from January 5th and 6th will be made available to representatives of the U.S., news organizations, those accused of crimes connected to January 6th, and their attorneys starting this month, in accordance with guidelines provided by the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight.
All spectators must agree to refrain from recording footage from terminals and keep their cellphones and cameras close to the entrance.
Terminals to see the video will be made accessible to news organizations on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m.
There will only be one three-hour time period permitted each week.
At the committee’s discretion, news outlets may be given access to portions of the footage, with requests assessed on a sliding scale.
Category 1: “Clips will be released if the same or similar clips have already been made public by the federal government, news media, or documentary filmmakers.”
Category 2: “Clips will be released if from a camera previously identified by [Capitol Police] as ‘non-sensitive’ and if they do not show footage that, in the determination of [committee] staff, would raise security concerns, such as footage showing officers defusing bombs or other tactical situations.”
Category 3: “Clips will generally not be released if from a camera previously identified by Capitol Police as ‘sensitive.'”
If the clips are also Category 1 clips or, in the CHA staff’s opinion, the public importance of the clips overcomes their security sensitivity, then Category 3 is an exception.
Defendants charged with crimes on January 6th will be able to request any footage under the same conditions if, after viewing the video, they claim that prosecutors did not make the footage they’re requesting available to them, if the footage they’re requesting contains potentially exculpatory information, or if the footage is needed for their own defense or the defense of a client.
“House Republicans are continuing to deliver on our promise to bring transparency and accountability to the People’s House by increasing access to security footage of the U.S. Capitol from January 5th and 6th, 2021,” said subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) in a statement. “This announcement stands in stark contrast to the previous Democrat leadership, who blocked access to the footage and only showed carefully edited clips to the public.”
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