Search results
Feb 10, 2024 · WASHINGTON — Newly unearthed footage from Jan. 6, 2021, appears to show a rioter — a man identified in an NBC News story nearly two years ago — firing a gun into the air outside the Capitol...
- Overview
- The Jan. 6 security videos
- A dispute over blurring faces
One month after GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana announced House Republicans would post nearly all 44,000 hours of Capitol security video from Jan. 6, 2021, to a public website, a CBS News review finds less than an estimated 0.4% of the footage has been uploaded.
But the task of posting the footage is daunting and has no firm deadline for completion, according to multiple interviews conducted by CBS News.
The decision to post a comprehensive set of Jan. 6 security camera videos is already shrouded in controversy. House Republicans have lauded the efforts, arguing it will ensure "truth and transparency." But the plan is being blistered by some House Democrats, who warn the initiative is motivated by politics and conspiracy theories. They said it also creates safety vulnerabilities for Capitol Police and the Capitol complex.
CBS News found the project has been weighed down by a series of unique logistical challenges that will be difficult to untangle. The vast quantity of video — which would require five years of 24-hour-per-day viewing for any single person to watch from beginning to end — and the intricate security configurations of closed-circuit surveillance footage are complicating efforts to upload large chunks of the video.
As of this week, there have been two major batches of video posted — viewable but not downloadable — on a Rumble web page operated by House Republicans or on the House Administration Committee's government web page.
One batch is an approximately 90-hour set of hallway, overhead and exterior camera video that was previously made available to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this year, according to multiple congressional staff who spoke with CBS News.
A second wave of videos, which appear to have been posted over the past two weeks, include 24-hour chunks from three main security cameras. The estimated 162 hours of total video now available on the website is a tiny fraction of the 44,000 hours in the possession of the House.
The House Administration Committee, which has oversight of the U.S. Capitol Police and the Capitol complex, is tasked with managing and uploading the footage. Months after winning a majority and control of the House, Republicans on the committee opened a Capitol Hill screening room to allow members of the public to view hours of the security video.
In November, the committee posted the first batch of video on its official government website and later shifted footage to the committee's Rumble page, to better accommodate the larger files and potential web traffic.
A spokesman for GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, who oversees the subcommittee managing the footage, said there are plans to upload new sets of video each week.
Johnson said House Republicans intend to blur the faces of some of the people captured by the surveillance camera footage.
"You have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in the events of that day, because we don't want them to be retaliated against and charged by the [Department of Justice]," Johnson said earlier this month.
A spokesman later clarified Johnson's statement: "Faces are to be blurred from public viewing room footage to prevent all forms of retaliation against private citizens from any non-governmental actors. The Department of Justice already has access to raw footage from January 6, 2021."
The time and editing technology needed to blur faces will further prolong an already laborious process to upload the video, according to multiple congressional staffers who spoke with CBS News. The House Administration Committee employs approximately 70 staffers, according to a review of House disbursement reports. A spokesman told CBS News that uploading the video "is a top priority for the subcommittee" and said that it is hiring extra staff to process and upload it.
The first sets of posted videos, which were the same videos given to Carlson, do not include face blurring.
Democratic Rep. Norma Torres of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Administration subcommittee, blasted the decision to publicly post the footage.
- 6 min
- Scott MacFarlane
Jun 10, 2022 · The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection presented 12 minutes of violent, previously unseen footage of rioters beating police and smashing way into Capitol.
Dec 24, 2021 · The Justice Department this week released a three-hour video of a battle between rioters and the police at the US Capitol Building on January 6 where rioters brandished weapons, officers were...
- 3 min
Jun 9, 2022 · The House select committee investigating the Capitol riot played a video compilation in its first of several hearings, including never-before-seen footage of rioters breaching the Capitol and...
Jun 18, 2021 · A federal judge recently decided to force media outlets to seek access to Capitol riot evidence, including video clips, on a case-by-case basis.
The indictment caps an inquiry into events which led up to the 6 January 2021 riot at the US Capitol - when supporters of Mr Trump stormed Congress in a bid to thwart the certification of Joe...
