An Arizona congressman wants 14,000 hours worth of surveillance video collected at the Capitol Building during the mostly peaceful January 6 protest to be immediately released to the public.
“Long past time. Release the evidence. All of it,” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) said on Twitter, responding to the same demand made by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01).
Long past time. Release the evidence. All of it. https://t.co/vLPLVka0kj
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) September 27, 2021
The conversation began after The Hill reported that at least one of the people who took part in the protest that day was an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
That man was reportedly a member of a midwest chapter of the Proud Boys, a group of right-wingers known for going toe to toe with far-left Antifa members in the streets.
“Based on an account of the informant’s activities detailed in the records, the informant described meeting up with men from other Proud Boys chapters at 10 a.m. at the Washington Monument and eventually entering the Capitol,” The Hill said.
For many, the story confirmed suspicions that the FBI or its informants may have incited violence at the January 6 protest.
In June, Revolver News noted that there were several unindicted co-conspirators who remained unnamed in charging documents against January 6 defendants. Those co-conspirators, the outlet said, were likely undercover law enforcement officers.
The federal government excused its failures to secure the Capitol Building by saying that intelligence agencies failed to warn it of the threat of violence on that day.
Revolver News said:
If it turns out that the federal government (FBI, Army Counterintelligence, or a similar agency) had undercover agents or confidential informants embedded in any of the groups involved in 1/6, the “federal intelligence agencies failing to warn of a potential for violence” looks less like an innocent mistake and more like something sinister.
Releasing all of the surveillance footage would allow for further transparency into exactly what happened that day, and who exactly was involved.
More than 600 Americans have been arrested stemming from the protest. They have been labeled “domestic terrorists” by media outlets and the political left.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
