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True to his word, House Speaker Mike Johnson has released an additional 5,000 hours of security footage taken during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The additional video amounts to approximately 208 consecutive days of viewing. The House Administration Oversight Subcommittee has released it.
“House Republicans again commend subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk and the entire Committee on House Administration for their ongoing commitment to ensuring that there is full transparency surrounding the events of January 6,” Johnson said in a statement, the outlet reported.
The release follows Johnson’s November 2023 statement that he intended to make the January 6, 2021, tapes accessible to the American public. Johnson initially released 90 hours of footage.
The outlet said there appears to be more video than what was released, as the subcommittee vowed to “continue to release the remaining footage online as expeditiously as possible so that it is accessible to every American.”
Just the News added that some of the new video released on Friday was previously released but was blurry and has since been reloaded in a bid to make it clearer.
“I appreciate Speaker Johnson’s continued support of our efforts and his resolute commitment to full transparency for the American people,” Loudermilk said. “Today’s decision will significantly expedite CCTV footage releases, all of which will be made available to the American public within the next few months without blurring or editing. The first batch is already available on our Rumble page.”
Meanwhile, in a ruling that could have far-reaching implications for perhaps hundreds of people arrested following the Jan. 6 protest, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled last week that at least some of them were “improperly” sentenced.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit determined that defendant and former Air Force officer Larry Brock’s sentence was flawed as it wrongly incorporated charges of “interference with the administration of justice.” Circuit Judge Millett, the author of the court’s opinion, stated that interference with Congress’ certification of the electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election does not warrant a sentence enhancement, Fox News reported.
“Brock challenges both the district court’s interpretation of Section 1512(c)(2)’s elements and the sufficiency of the evidence to support that conviction. He also challenges the district court’s application of the three-level sentencing enhancement for interfering with the ‘administration of justice,’” Millett wrote.
The appeals court affirmed Brock’s conviction but disagreed with how he was sentenced, noting: “As for Brock’s sentence, we hold that the ‘administration of justice’ enhancement does not apply to interference with the legislative process of certifying electoral votes.”
While other aspects of Larry Brock’s conviction were upheld, the higher court nevertheless ruled it would “vacate Brock’s sentence” while remanding the case back to the district court to resentence the single “interference” charge.
Other Jan. 6 defendants received longer sentences under the same enhancement, and now those cases could potentially be overturned as well.
“Larry Brock participated in the violent January 6th riot at the United States Capitol that forced the evacuation of members of Congress and their staff and prevented Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election until the next day. After a bench trial, the court convicted Brock of six crimes, including corruptly obstructing Congress’s certification of the electoral count under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2),” Judge Millet wrote.
“At sentencing, the district court applied a three-level sentencing enhancement to Brock’s Section 1512(c)(2) conviction on the ground that Brock’s conduct resulted in ‘substantial interference with the administration of justice,’” he added.
In a filing, Brock’s legal team noted his minimalist role: “Brock ultimately reached the Senate floor, where he spent approximately eight minutes walking around and looking at paperwork on desks.
During this time, Brock told others not to sit in the Vice President’s chair or to be disrespectful, explaining that the rioters could not afford to ‘lose the IO war.’”
