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The unveiling of some of the 41,000 hours of video from Jan. 6, 2021, that was hidden from public view for more than two years has sparked a new national conversation about just how much still isn’t known about the Capitol incursion.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson was given exclusive access by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to U.S. Capitol security videos and other footage, most of it hidden from public view.
If Carlson’s first broadcast special on the footage that aired on March 6 is any indication, the prevailing Jan. 6 narrative is on life support, and the day’s legacy of troubling questions continues to deepen as a result.
Through the news media, the public has had limited access to the nearly 4.7 years’ worth of video captured by security cameras, police bodycams, and videos taken by tens of thousands of Jan. 6 protesters.
Much of it, however, has been hidden under a judicial protective order. It’s unclear if Congress, as the custodian of Capitol Police security video, provided its entire collection of Jan. 6 video to the Department of Justice. Prosecutors have for more than a year referred to 14,000 hours of video used in the prosecution of alleged Jan. 6 crimes.
Well before Carlson envisioned his highly watched March 6–7 specials, defense attorneys on Jan. 6 criminal cases complained that video and other evidence beneficial to their clients have not been disclosed by the government as required under Supreme Court rulings.
With Carlson’s revelations about the “QAnon Shaman,” Jacob Chansley, and mysterious Jan. 6 figure Ray Epps, the cries from defense attorneys about exculpatory evidence will likely increase in the coming weeks and months.
Since Jan. 6 was arguably the most photographed and videoed event in recorded history, the truth about the day should be easy to discern.
But the massive digital evidence cache has been tightly controlled—and even manipulated—to great effect on public opinion. Unfettered public access to all of the video—if it is granted—will crack the legacy media narrative even more and widen the political divide in America.
What follows is an overview of the myriad issues that the 41,000 hours of video will most likely impact.Failure of Leadership in Evacuation
The evacuation of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House on Jan. 6 provides perhaps the clearest case of how security video can define a critical story.
In Carlson’s second Capitol videos special on March 7, he will tell the story of U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Tarik Johnson, who said he was left without direction on Jan. 6 by assistant Capitol Police chief Yogananda Pittman.
After taking to the radio to ask for permission to evacuate the Senate, Johnson got no response. Even after the USCP dispatcher repeated Johnson’s call for direction, there was silence from the Command Center.
Johnson forged ahead with the evacuation and went on to direct the evacuation of the House. He said on the radio that he would take any discipline for acting on his own.
The segment on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” will be based in part on investigative reporting by The Epoch Times, which told Johnson’s story in January.
“There was no response from anybody at the Command Center,” Johnson told The Epoch Times. “I say even before I initiated evacuation, I say specifically, ‘We’ve got to start thinking about getting the people out before we don’t have a chance to.’
“I heard no response. Then I asked for permission to evacuate. I heard no response.”
Johnson said the Command Center’s silence caused the loss of precious time that might have prevented the shooting death of protester Ashli Babbitt at about 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 6.
Johnson became known to much of America as the Capitol Police lieutenant who wore a bright red Make America Great Again ball cap while he worked with a pair of Oath Keepers to rescue 16 USCP officers trapped in the foyer inside the massive Columbus Doors.
Johnson was suspended by USCP and later accused of rules violations, including conduct unbecoming, for wearing the Trump hat and working with the Oath Keepers on the officer rescue. He said he believes those charges were actually brought because the evacuations and other split-second leadership decisions he made embarrassed Pittman.Police Actions Raise Questions
Carlson aired Capitol security video showing Capitol Police leading the QAnon Shaman around the building and letting him into the U.S. Senate, where he posed on the rostrum and made a speech.
Many other aspects of police presence and behavior on Jan. 6 have already drawn scrutiny and critique.
Probably the most graphic example is that of Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Thau, who was like a one-man Army on the west front of the Capitol during the mid-afternoon of Jan. 6.
Bodycam footage from several Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers shows Thau dropped at least four protesters with a taser, tossed uncounted explosive munitions into the tightly packed crowd, directed high-velocity pepper spray into a stiff headwind, and fired a 40mm shell from a munition launcher into the crowd.
