A longstanding false claim by Trump supporters regarding the January 6 riots has been debunked after House Republicans released their latest batch of footage from the U.S. Capitol attack. According to longtime congressional reporter Jamie Dupree, the new footage disproves the assertion that Capitol police stood by and opened doors to let rioters in.
This claim has often been used to suggest that the riot was an entrapment operation designed to provoke Trump supporters into committing acts of violence. Dupree detailed how the footage clearly shows police officers attempting to hold the line and prevent the mob from breaching several entrances to the Capitol.
“Courtesy of House Republicans, I went to watch 3 more hours of Jan. 6 security tapes from the Capitol today,” wrote Dupree in a post on X. “The tapes show the biggest lie about Jan. 6 is that the cops ‘opened the doors’ to let Trump supporters in. That did not happen.”
The video depicts officers being overwhelmed by the sheer number of people rushing them, contradicting any notion that the police passively allowed the rioters to enter. At no point in the footage do the officers stand aside or open doors for the crowd. Since the Capitol attack, which resulted in numerous injuries to officers, millions of dollars in damage, and the endangerment of members of Congress during the electoral certification, defenders of the rioters have promoted several false narratives, reports NBC News.
One such claim was that none of the rioters were armed, a myth that was quickly debunked as numerous individuals were arrested on weapons charges. In recent months, House Republicans have made thousands of hours of raw security footage from the January 6 attack available to the public. This decision marks a significant shift from the previous stance of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Initially, Johnson argued that the footage could not be released unaltered due to concerns that the participants might face retaliation, a position that sparked widespread outrage. The newly released footage and the debunking of false claims surrounding the Capitol attack underscore the ongoing efforts to provide a clear and accurate account of the events that transpired on January 6. This transparency is crucial for addressing misinformation and holding accountable those responsible for the violence and chaos that unfolded on that day.