House Administration to allow limited access to January 6 footage

The Committee on House Administration will allow limited, but slightly expanded, access to Capitol security footage from January 6, 2021. They announced the change Friday (September 1), after the House previously shared the footage only with Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson was with Fox News at the time.

New House Administration policy

The House Administration Committee will now share the footage, on a limited basis, with:

1. Media outlets in addition to Fox News Channel and personalities in addition to Tucker Carlson, and:
2. Defendants charged with crimes relating to the January 6 Event, and their attorneys.

The new announcement came from Roll Call on Friday. House Administration released a three-page policy document here.

The new policy makes clear that this is not a public release. Only U.S. citizens, nationals, and lawful permanent residents will have this new access. House Administration refers to “news outlets” but does not define this term, except to say that “news outlets” mean more than only those outlets having House or Senate press gallery credentials. In addition the policy offers access to “Qualifying Non-profit Organization,” which they define thus:

Qualifying Non-Profit Organization is defined as a non-partisan non-profit organization with the mission of contributing significantly to the public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and a record of advancing that mission.

That’s still a subjective criterion, but it is a criterion that offers some guidance as to who will gain access.

Defendants and their attorneys get the same access as news outlets and “qualifying non-profits.” Except: defendants and their attorneys have priority over all others in the granting of appointments. Appointments are for three hours a day, and any given entity may have one appointment per week.

How to obtain a permanent clip

After the initial review, an entity may request clips of the footage they review, if:

• The government, news media, or documentary filmmakers have already made the clips public, or:
• Any given clip does not come from a “sensitive” camera, and:
• The clip does not contain anything that would give away security-sensitive information like how to defuse a bomb.

A defendant or his attorney may have a clip if:

1. Prosecutors did not already share the footage with them (in potential violation of discovery rules),
2. The clip is exculpatory, and
3. The defense will use the clip solely for criminal defense (and not to try the case in the public media).

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) already has noticed that at least four January 6 defendants have committed suicide. For that, she blamed the prosecutors.

But Laura Loomer blamed Rep. Greene (and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Speaker of the House) for not releasing the tapes.

Speaker McCarthy faced significant backlash after sharing any of the footage with Tucker Carlson, on any terms. More to the point, other news outlets demanded more access from the start. This included The Gateway Pundit, who today shared their own struggles to get this access.

The Gateway Pundit also shared the address of their own comprehensive database, American Gulag, with information about the nearly 1000 January 6 defendants.