House Republicans are planning to provide Jan. 6 rioters and other defendants in insurrection related cases access to internal Capitol security footage.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), the chair of the House Administration Committee’s oversight subpanel, told Politico that the access, which was green-lighted by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), would be granted on a “case-by-case basis.”
“Everyone accused of a crime in this country deserves due process, which includes access to evidence which may be used to prove their guilt or innocence,” Loudermilk told Politico in a statement. “It is our intention to make available any relevant documents or videos, on a case-by-case basis, as requested by attorneys representing defendants.”
Jan. 6 defendants are already granted some access to footage from the attack on the Capitol. Access to all the internal footage could be significant for lawyers working on on-going cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Jan. 6 defendants are just the latest group that House Republicans are giving special treatment. The move comes days after McCarthy granted Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson and his production team exclusive access to the 41,000 hours of internal Capitol footage, leading to staunch criticism and pushback from many who warn allowing full access to an outside party like Carlson could create security risks for the Capitol and the people who work there.
McCarthy and his allies have made it clear that there will be limits to which material can leave the tightly controlled confines of the Capitol, according to Politico.
“What gets released is obviously going to be scrutinized to make sure you’re not exposing any sensitive information that hasn’t already been exposed,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).
Two of the people familiar with the plan told Politico that security measures would be taken — just like it was with Carlson’s FOX team — for the footage opened up to Jan. 6 defendants and their lawyers.
But the details of those security measures remain unclear. And a big question around the vague plan is whether any footage opened up to defendants and their legal team can be used in court proceedings, making the footage effectively public for anyone to see.
