Reps. Loudermilk and Johnson announce release of 5,000 hours of Jan. 6 footage following arrest of Blaze Media's Steve Baker

House Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced Friday the release of 5,000 hours of CCTV footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, protests. This release coincides with Blaze Media investigative journalist Steve Baker's FBI-compelled surrender in Dallas over his Jan. 6 reporting.

According to the Republican congressmen, this release is but a trickle compared to the coming flood, as far more footage will be released in the coming weeks and months. Additionally, at the direction of Johnson, faces will not be blurred in the footage in the interest of "getting this work completed as responsibly and efficiently as possible."

Already, the footage Loudermilk made available to Steve Baker has served to greatly undermine the Jan. 6 narrative advanced by Democratic lawmakers and their allies in the media.

Weeks after uncovering various damning irregularities in the story told by and about U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Baker confirmed in January — on the basis of Jan. 6 footage — that the so-called passerby who discovered the pipe bomb at the DNC happened to be a United States Capitol Police plainclothes officer.

In his continued deep dive, Baker also found troubling indications that something was off about the pipe bomb investigation from the outset.

On the basis of closed-circuit TV video footage made available to him by Loudermilk, Baker noted how three cameras controlled by the U.S. Capitol Police and customarily pointed at the DNC office building were strangely turned away from the scene just after the discovery of the alleged explosive device. Despite the cameras' averted gazes, Baker nevertheless highlighted curious details about various law enforcement agencies' responses to the discovery of the pipe bombs as well as about the investigation that followed.

The release of additional vantages on the Jan. 6 protests and the incidents in the surrounding area may serve to lend additional insights into what actually took place on that fateful day.

Videos have been uploaded and now appear on the House Subcommittee on Oversight's Rumble page. Subsequent releases will similarly be reviewed to ensure that footage does not contain sensitive security information.

"House Republicans again commend Chairman Loudermilk and the entire Committee on House Administration for their ongoing commitment to ensuring that there is full transparency surrounding the events of January 6," Johnson said in a statement obtained by Blaze News.

Last year, Johnson indicated he would release 44,000 hours of footage from the Jan. 6 protests, noting that doing so would "provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials."

In his statement Friday, Johnson stressed that the "ongoing work is especially necessary considering the deeply flawed prior investigation conducted by the partisan January 6 select committee, which instead of delivering transparency, has contributed to defendants, public interest groups, and the media having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials."

"My subcommittee's investigation has always been about providing the American people with full transparency and complete accountability about what really happened on January 6, 2021," said Rep. Loudermilk. "As such, we have been working tirelessly to make public all U.S. Capitol Police CCTV footage from that day."

Loudermilk lauded Johnson for his continued support of the subcommittee's efforts and for his "resolute commitment to full transparency for the American people."

"Today's decision will significantly expedite CCTV footage releases, all of which will be made available to the American public within the next few months, without blurring or editing," added the Georgia congressman.

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