Judge wants video release information

A federal judge on Friday delayed ruling on a Topeka man’s request to release video in his Capitol riot case that he said shows undercover Metropolitan Police officers inciting protesters on Jan. 6.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said that before ruling on defendant William Pope’s request, he wanted to know more about news reports this week that House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy plans to make more than 40,000 hours of Capitol security footage available to the broader public and to lawyers of defendants charged in connection with the insurrection.

The debate over the release of security footage from Jan. 6 intensified last month when Mccarthy faced criticism for granting Fox News host Tucker Carlson exclusive access to view the videos. On Tuesday, the speaker said he would provide access to others also.

“I’d like to hear more from the government on what I’m reading in the papers about production of the CCTV (closed circuit television) video to Tucker Carlson and, after a point of exclusivity, to other news outlets,” Contreras said during Pope’s hearing, held via video conference in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Contreras said it also appeared that disclosures were being made to defendants on a case-by-case basis.

“I don’t know what ‘case-by-case basis’ means and why the speaker gets to choose which defendants get to see what,” Contreras said. “I know that the Capitol Police is not the speaker’s office. But it seems from what I’m reading in the papers that the Capitol Police has been involved in those discussions.”

The judge said he wanted a sworn declaration from the Capitol Police within two weeks “as to exactly what all those things mean.”