New Footage Shows Someone Left Door Unlocked During 1/6
Newly released surveillance footage from the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 reveals that more than 300 people were able to enter the building through an unlocked door on the West side that was left largely unguarded.
According to Just The News, the footage taken at about 2:30 in the afternoon shows a few of the protesters being escorted by Capitol Police officers through a non-public area to an emergency fire door that remained open. The timestamp of the footage coincides with the first reports of breaches elsewhere in the Capitol.
As the first protester exits, the door opens allowing the subsequent 309 people to enter through the access point in less than 20 minutes. The footage does not show that the officers were in riot gear or that they attempted to block the entrance.
Further investigation has revealed that the Upper West Terrace floor, between the House and Senate sides of the Capitol, has been cited in many of the trespassing prosecutions by the Department of Justice.
Current and former Capitol Police officers have now suggested that moving the protesters outside the Capitol through the emergency exit doors likely triggered the emergency fire system and unlocked the entrance, creating a new access point for the protesters.
In early June 2021, Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) was one of the first to push the release of this footage, noting that he first became aware of it two years ago. In his letter to the Capitol Police, he requested that the footage be released "so that vulnerabilities ignored by the Democrat-led Jan. 6 committee can be addressed." He has expressed to Just The News that "Some people did enter the Capitol, not by committing acts of violence, but were literally let in.”
Former FBI agent Steven Friend who had worked on the Jan. 6 case before leaving the bureau due to civil liberty violations of some of the defendants, said recently that the footage might be useful to some of the defendants on appeal.
Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls has also challenged the portrayal of the events that day by Democrats and has noted that "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.”
Furthermore, he stated, "there are many, many people inside that Capitol building that day that didn't violate any law, didn't hurt anybody, didn't do anything wrong."
The released footage is sure to pique the interest of many as its contents challenge the narrative of Capitol Police reports of that day that suggest all the protesters stormed the building rather than the many of them simply walking through an unlocked door.
It remains to be seen how much sway this footage will have in the proceedings of the trials for those who have been charged with participating in the riots of last January, but it no doubt will have a significant impact.