Looking for evidence regarding Jan. 6 vandalism
Judicial Watch is a government watchdog in Washington that routinely takes government entities to court for failing to supply information to the public that really belongs to the public.
It can’t do that with Congress, because Congress has decided the Freedom of Information Act law is one that it doesn’t need to follow.
So now Judicial Watch is asking a court for an order for “discovery,” a legal process through which evidence can be brought to the light in legal disputes.
The issue is the evidence that the U.S. Capitol Police agency has regarding the turmoil and violence that happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
That’s the day that President Trump held a morning rally, with tens of thousands of people. After that, thousands went to the Capitol, where Congress was scheduled to vote on the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.
Many hundreds walked into the building, often with the Capitol Police holding the doors open for them. They took selfies. But handsful of those eventually turned violent, and they broke windows and doors and vandalized parts of the facility.
Hundreds have since been arrested and mostly are facing trespassing charges and the like.
But there is security video – and estimated 14,000 hours of it – that would reveal in live action exactly what happened that day that Judicial Watch wants to see.
The organization reported, “This case concerns whether the public has a right of access to records about what Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has described as ‘one of the darkest days in our nation’s history,’ ‘an attack on our very democracy[,]’ and ‘an attack on the peaceful transfer of power.’ Speaker Pelosi also has stated, ‘It is imperative that we find the truth of that day and ensure that such an assault on our Capitol and Democracy cannot ever again happen.'”
Several people died of natural causes on that day, and several police officers later died of natural causes. or suicide. The only person killed by violence was a protester who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer who will not face any punishment, officials have confirmed.
The trigger for the event was the suspect results of the 2020 presidential race. Joe Biden won by only a few thousand votes spread across multiple swing states. But the circumstances raised enough concerns that lawsuits were filed, and when they were unsuccessful, audits, which still are ongoing, proposed.
What isn’t in dispute is the fact that state and local officials arbitrarily changed voting laws in order to accommodate fraud-prone mail-in ballots, even though the Constitution allows only state lawmakers to do that.
Further, there were outside influences evidence, since the leftist Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook megawealth handed out cash prizes totaling about $350 million to local elections officials, mostly liberal, so they could run their operations.
Judicial Watch, in order “to find out the truth about what took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and to understand how Defendant United States Capitol Police and other government entities responded on that day,” asked for access to those recordings.
It also wants access to emails between the police executive team and its board, the same between the board and the FBI, the DOJ and others, and “all video footage” from inside the Capitol on that day.
“As the Pelosi House seeks the confidential phone and social media records of countless Americans concerning January 6, its U.S. Capitol Police is covering up 14,000 hours of video about what really happened that day,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The U.S. Capitol Police should be required to explain under oath its reasons for refusing to turn over even one second of January 6 video to the American people.”
The police agency there has claimed that the videos and other records are not “public records” and the public really isn’t interested in their disclosure, so it will keep them concealed.
