Among the many unanswered questions about what actually transpired during the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021, is that of where all of the security video went. There are a few sensational snippets showing some of the worst moments that show up regularly and Tucker Carlson released more of it somehow earlier this year. But we were assured that there were thousands of hours more that never seemed to be released. Some members, mostly Democrats, insist that the rest of it can’t be shared due to internal security concerns and privacy considerations. Yesterday, however, Speaker Mike Johnson decided to open the floodgates. He released a new set of videos and promised that 40,000 more hours would be released on a public website just as soon as they finish editing them to address privacy concerns. At PJ Media, Matt Margolis has excerpts from the Speaker’s announcement and some of the first videos. He’s probably correct when he predicts that the Democrats aren’t going to like seeing these videos out in public very much.

Moments ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) publicly released footage from the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

“To restore America’s trust and faith in their Government we must have transparency,” Johnson said in a post on Twitter. “This is another step towards keeping the promises I made when I was elected to be your Speaker.”

Johnson provided a link that will be continuously updated “with thousands of hours of footage.”

“When I ran for Speaker, I promised to make accessible to the American people the 44,000 hours of video from Capitol Hill security taken on January 6, 2021,” Johnson said in a statement on X/Twitter. “Truth and transparency are critical. Today, we will begin immediately posting video on a public website and move as quickly as possible to add to the website nearly all of the footage, more than 40,000 hours. In the meantime, a public viewing room will ensure that every citizen can view every minute of the videos uncensored.”

Johnson praised the work of the people who have been preparing the videos for dissemination. He said that the faces of civilians (meaning the protesters) are being digitally blurred out to prevent them from “being targeted for retaliation of any kind.” He also said that approximately five percent of the videos will need to be excluded because they might contain “sensitive security information related to the building architecture.”

As Matt points out, the first videos being released paint a very different picture than the narrative we typically hear from the Democrats. It’s true that there was some violence and damage in the early stages of the riot when the protesters were working to get past the police lines and breaking the doors and windows of the building. (That’s still a crime, by the way.) And there was definitely some crowding and shoving going on in the hallway where Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed.

But other than that? There wasn’t all that much action inside of the building The protesters were mostly just walking around like they were sightseeing. While the Capitol Hill Police on the outside had gotten into some shoving matches, most of the ones on the inside looked almost casual in their response. A few of them appeared to be acting as tour guides. In the video attached to this appropriately sarcastic tweet, you can see officers chatting, nodding, and waving as protests stroll down the hall past them.

BREAKING: In this never-before-seen footage of the January 6th insurrection, you can see capitol police officers fighting for their lives as the violent insurrectionists endanger American democracy in real-time pic.twitter.com/DDqPWafrHI

— George (@BehizyTweets) November 17, 2023

In another scene, the police did handcuff one protester for unknown reasons. But they then proceeded to remove the cuffs and even give the guy a fist bump before sending him on his way.

Proof Jan 6th Was An Inside Job

Capitol Police Uncuff January 6th Protestor

He takes the handcuffs and then he gets a fist bump… #J6footage #jan6 #J6 pic.twitter.com/XiB0pWtBDh

— Eleven (@mr11now) November 17, 2023

It’s probably going to take a while to finish processing 40,000 hours of video in this fashion. But we’ll keep checking in on the web site from time to time and share any clips with you that seem particularly interesting.