Living up to his promises, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has made public an extra 5,000 hours of security footage from the Capitol Building, captured during the civil unrest on January 6, 2021. It was reported by Just the News that the fresh batch of footage equates to around 208 continuous days of screening. The footage was released by the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee, according to the report.
The Republican faction of the House has once more voiced their appreciation towards Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk along with the rest of the House Administration Committee for their unwavering resolve to make sure every aspect of the disruptive events on January 6 is transparent. This release follows up on Johnson’s vow from November 2023 where he declared his intent to make available to the public all relevant video recordings from that day in January 2021.
Initially, Johnson had unveiled 90 hours of video recordings. Based on what the outlet reported, it seems like there is more footage expected beyond what was unveiled on this recent Friday. The subcommittee is determined to release any remaining footage as speedily as possible, ensuring every American can access it.
Reportedly, some of the newly released footage on that Friday was not in its first showing, but had to be reloaded after initial release due to quality issues making it blurry. The footage is available for public view via this link. Of note, a legal judgment that came in last week might have significant consequences on the cases of countless individuals arrested in the wake of the January 6 protests.
The U.S. Appeals Court in the District of Columbia ruled that the sentences handed down to some of them were incorrect. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit discovered a flaw in the case of Larry Brock, an ex-Air Force officer, arguing that his sentencing improperly included charges related to tampering with the administration of justice.
Authoring the court’s opinion, Circuit Judge Millett stated that meddling with Congress’s certification of the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election should not justify enhancing the sentence, as reported by Fox News. Brock disputed the interpretation of the elements of Section 1512(c)(2) by the district court, questioned the adequacy of the evidence supporting his conviction, and challenged the tri-level sentencing enhancement responding to his interference with the electoral vote certification process.
The appeals court upheld Brock’s conviction but disagreed with the sentencing. The judges asserted that the rule for an increased sentence due to interference with justice administration does not apply to the legislative process of authenticating electoral votes. Apart from some parts of Larry Brock’s sentence, the superior court overturned the rest and has sent it back to the district court for resentencing of the single charge of interference.
Several other defendants connected with the January 6 incidents received harsher sentences based on the same enhancement clause, and those cases now face the possibility of being overturned as well. Larry Brock was implicated in the chaos at the Capitol on January 6 which compelled lawmakers and their assistants to evacuate and delayed the endorsement of the 2020 presidential election results until the following day.
Post the bench trial, Judge Millet declared in his written opinion that Brock was found guilty of six offenses, one of them being felony obstruction of Congress’s certification of the 2020 election results under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2). When initially sentenced, Brock’s conviction under Section 1512(c)(2) had been hit with a three-level enhancement on the basis that Brock’s actions caused considerable disruption to justice administration.
Brock’s defense argued for the limited nature of his participation: he had made it to the Senate floor, roughly spent eight minutes wandering around, and peeked at documents on various desks. During these moments, he discouraged others from sitting in the Vice President’s chair or being disrespectful, noting the risk of losing any public sympathy.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson Releases Another 5000 Hours of Jan 6th Capitol Footage appeared first on Real News Now.
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