Mr. Speaker, release the J6 footage

One of the first things I did after becoming editor in chief of Blaze Media was make Steve Baker a contributor. This is because for the last two years, Steve has been performing the rarest job in America: carefully investigating the truth about the events of January 6, 2021.

When it comes to the protest more than two years ago at the United States Capitol, instead of speaking truth to power, most media outlets are speaking lies to the powerless on the behalf of the powerful.

The narrative about that day that every person in polite society is now supposed to accept is at least as grossly exaggerated as the 2020 George Floyd riots were downplayed. But people obey power, not facts.

Apart from Julie Kelly’s heroic work, Darren Beattie and friends at Revolver, Joe Hanneman at the Epoch Times, and a tiny handful of others, most journalists and media outlets dutifully regurgitate obvious propaganda.

First, let’s state the obvious: The Democratic Party continues to use the protest as an excuse to demonize, delegitimize, and viciously persecute its domestic political opposition, including half the nation that supported the Republican nominee the Democrats are now trying to imprison.

The narrative about January 6 is being used as a wedge that our ruling class mercilessly hammers to separate “good” and “respectable” Republicans who go along with it from — according to Joe Biden — “extremist,” “authoritarian,” “insurrectionist” Republicans who threaten the very soul of our nation.

But if anyone truly cares about justice under the law and our system of government, the question of what happened that day should not revolve around whether someone is a Democrat or a Republican or whatever they happen to think about Joe Biden or Donald Trump.

All Americans should care about one thing above all else: the truth.

The truth is out there

For years now, tens of thousands of hours of Capitol CCTV footage containing the truth about January 6 has remained hidden from the American public and defense attorneys for more than 1,100 citizens (and counting) who face federal prosecution.

Since they took over the House this year, Republicans have talked a big game about their intention to release the footage. Tucker Carlson was given access and started in on it for a few nights — but mysteriously and suddenly stopped before he was eventually axed at Fox News. No one thinks his silence was by choice.

After I hired Steve Baker, we were told by House Republicans that we had to wait until a process was established to watch and request video footage. We did that. One of the first things our team discovered when they were allowed to watch the footage was the apparent perjury of U.S. Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus during the Oath Keepers’ trial.

Even if the largest “conservative” TV network has shown little interest in the truth about January 6, its audience and millions of Americans are keenly interested. And so are we. Today, Blaze News is launching “The Truth About January 6,” a new video series highlighting our ongoing investigation.

Congress delays

On the eve of launching our blockbuster exclusive on Lazarus, we received an 11th-hour call informing us that because then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy had just been ousted from his position in a surprise vote, we could not release the Capitol CCTV videos that would validate the findings of our investigation.

Without a speaker, we were told that the Committee on House Administration did not have the authority to give our intended presentation of those videos the required “security review” and approve of their public release.

Blaze Media has made numerous entreaties for alternate pathways for congressional approval or some kind of statement from the overseeing committee chairman addressing the reason for the delayed release.

While many of our readers demand we “go nuclear” and release the only videos we currently possess relating to Lazarus, in violation of our agreement with the committee, we have acted consistently within the House’s published media policy.

Blaze Media’s team also examined hours of video evidence we do not yet possess that proves that U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn also lied about what happened on January 6 — footage that we still need reviewed and released by Congress.

On Wednesday afternoon, we received this short response from a senior aide to the Committee on House Administration: “This is a decision for the Office of the Speaker of the House.”

Later in the afternoon, U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) became the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, release the video.