House Republicans announced Friday that the media and some nonprofits will have access to never-before-seen security camera footage from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Defendants across the country in hundreds of criminal cases stemming from the riots will also be able to view and use the footage.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, issued a statement accompanying the release of a new policy guidance.
"House Republicans are continuing to deliver on our promise to bring transparency and accountability to the People's House by increasing access to security footage of the U.S. Capitol from January 5th and 6th, 2021," Loudermilk said.
"This announcement stands in stark contrast to the previous Democrat leadership, who blocked access to the footage and only showed carefully edited clips to the public," he added.
The new rules state that, starting Monday, the aforementioned groups will be allowed to request appointments to view the footage. They are limited to three hours at a time, once a week.
Media organizations will be permitted to request clips of footage for use, limited to 10 per week and 20 per month, with a maximum length of 10 minutes of footage.
However, whether the specific clips requested will be released to the media is at the discretion of committee staff and depends upon the security of their contents.
Defendants are granted priority when scheduling appointments and may request footage if it contains exculpatory information not made available by prosecutors and is used exclusively for their case.
The move comes after Loudermilk, at the behest of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, exclusively granted then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to around 44,000 hours of video.
McCarthy pledged at the time that the rest of the media would eventually be given access to the tapes as well, The Associated Press reported in February.
"Have you ever had an exclusive?" the California Republican asked reporters. "Because I see it on your networks all the time. So we have exclusive, then I'll give it out to the entire country."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Luca Cacciatore ✉
Luca Cacciatore, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is based in Arlington, Virginia, reporting on news and politics.
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