Originally published June 6, 2023 7:23 am PDT
Security footage has confirmed that a door at the U.S. Capitol was opened during the January 6, 2021 unrest, enabling more than 300 individuals to freely enter the building.
This revelation, documented by Just The News (JTN), affirms concerns initially raised by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), about the potential security lapse during the infamous event.
The obtained footage provides a detailed account of a key incident around 2:30 p.m. on that day.
As detailed by JTN, “Capitol Police officers usher a few intruders already inside the building through the non-public Upper West Terrace hallway and toward a fire evacuation door,” clearly marked as an emergency exit.
Following the exit of one individual, the doors were seen to “open from inside as 309 individuals pass through it over a period of less than 20 minutes from the outside.”
The unobstructed access to the building continued, even as police officers reached the scene.
As reported by JTN, “Capitol Police officers, who didn’t have riot gear or helmets, eventually made their way to the unlocked Upper West Terrace doors but did not block the entrance and more rioters continued to flow into the building.”
This security footage serves as an important record of how an unforced breach happened during the ordeal, allowing hundreds of individuals to enter the building.
The decision to move a few intruders through the emergency doors likely “triggered the emergency fire system and unlocked the entrance, creating a new entryway for protesters and a new vulnerability for officers trying to protect the Capitol,” according to some current and former Capitol Police officers, as well as congressional aides who spoke to JTN.
Sen. Johnson, who first drew attention to the existence of such footage in 2021, highlighted its significance: “Some people did enter the Capitol, not by committing acts of violence, but were literally let in,” he told the news outlet.
Steven Friend, a former FBI agent, indicated that the footage could be valuable to some defendants on appeal.
He commented, “I think it’s sort of a game changer. I mean, here, they didn’t even position authority figures there who would admonish folks not to use that door. And that’s the Capitol, the people’s house. And I think there was a general sentiment among people there who even might have thought that it was more of just a regular tour of the building.”
The official after-action report from the Capitol Police makes only a passing mention of the incident, noting at 2:34 p.m., the “Upper West Terrace is breached.”
The footage underscores how the narrative surrounding the event may have been completely different from what was initially portrayed by the media and the House Jan. 6 committee.
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, criticized the committee’s approach: “They picked and chose what they wanted to expose during that sham committee,” Nehls said. “They got people screaming, and they found the worst 10 minutes inside the Capitol. But when you truly see the video, there are hours and hours of no violence, non-violent protesters just walking around inside the Capitol, waving their flags, singing God Bless America.”
American Faith reported how Just The News founder John Solomon recently spoke with Jack Posobeic of Human Events to discuss the many questions that remain after the release of the January 6, 2021 footage.
“Everything about January 6 was scripted,” Solomon told Posobeic, describing videos that lacked sound, although he remembered previously hearing sound in scenes during the January 6 hearings.
The report detailed how Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), who is looking into the January 6 investigation, revealed to Solomon that he found “every word, every scene” in something akin to a script.
“What America was seeing was not reality or a pursuit for truth, it was an effort to persuade people by creating a political movie,” the journalist noted.
“The January 6 Committee faked the tape, faked the American people by adding sound that wasn’t on the tapes,” Solomon explained.
He added, “What the Democrats have done is they have abandoned a neutral pursuit for facts, and they substitute it with an emotional Hollywood movie designed to create a political outcome.”
