Republican-led House committee initiated the public release of internal video footage from the Jan. 6 riot. House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed his commitment to making the “available to all Americans” in a statement.
Johnson, R-La., intends to upload over 40,000 hours of video footage to a public website, thereby granting “millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media” direct access to evidence of the events of that day. Requests for specific video footage can also be made through the House Administration Committee.
The committee has released 90 hours of security video and plans to work on clearing footage for public availability, albeit prioritizing the protection of private individuals’ privacy. Furthermore, security footage that does not compromise security will be released on a rolling basis over a few months.
This comes after the controversial decision of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to provide exclusive access to security video footage to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, despite pushback from the Capitol Police and Democrats.
The Chairman of the Administration Committee’s oversight subcommittee, Barry Loudermilk, had previously announced his intent to allow the public availability of security video footage from the Jan. 6 riot, underlining the ongoing debate around the role of security footage in national politics.
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