Video evidence of January 6 Capitol attack missing from US government website

Attorneys representing a collection of news organizations said in a legal filing submitted on Tuesday that video evidence used during the sentencing of a rioter involved in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol had vanished from an online government platform.

Nine videos related to the case against Glen Simon, who pleaded guilty to a count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, have disappeared and are no longer available in the database, according to the filing.

Simon pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to eight months behind bars.

Prosecutors said that he used a metal bike rack against law enforcement officers who were trying to control the crowd at the Capitol. He also recorded himself inside the Capitol building declaring: “This is what a revolution looks like” and “We gotta show these fuckers we ain’t fucking around. It’s the only way to get it done. Fear!”

The judge overseeing his case said that Simon had “helped incite the crowd” and had lied to the FBI about his actions that day.

The filing states that as of Tuesday, it appears that only video files related to Simon’s case have disappeared from the database. It remains to be seen whether the Department of Justice removed the files intentionally.

A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia declined to comment to NPR – which first reported the story – citing ongoing litigation.

The Guardian has also contacted the justice department and the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.

The justice department has reported that about 140 police officers from the US Capitol police and the DC police were injured during the January 6 Capitol riot.

After Donald Trump took office on 20 January he issued pardons for about 1,500 individuals convicted of offenses related to January 6, including some convicted of violent acts.

Trump also granted commutations for more than a dozen cases and directed the attorney general to dismiss all pending indictments against people related to January 6.

During the January 6 criminal cases, media organizations fought for and successfully gained access to court exhibits, including video files.

However, per Tuesday’s filing, an attorney representing the press coalition recently noticed that nine video files from Simon’s case were no longer available.

“Although the prosecutions and related criminal proceedings against individuals convicted of assaulting police officers, vandalizing the Capitol, and obstructing justice on January 6 have been dismissed, the public continues to have a powerful interest in the judicial records submitted in the Capitol Cases, including the Video Exhibits,” the filing states.

The press coalition say that on 10 February, it contacted the government to request the restoration of the missing evidence, an explanation of what occurred and confirmation that no records would be removed without notice.

The filing states that although the government’s lawyers assured them that a prompt response would follow, as of 11 February, no explanation was given.

In light of this, the press coalition is now petitioning the court to order the government to restore the video exhibits within 48 hours and ensure that all records related to the January 6 cases remain accessible to the press and public unless the court orders otherwise.

“That right of access does not dissipate merely because all of the Capitol Case defendants have been pardoned,” it adds in the filing. “To the contrary, the public interest in ensuring that the video exhibits remain available in the future is all the greater, given that these videos ‘are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies.’”

Former prosecutors involved in January 6 cases told NPR that they fear the Trump administration may attempt to erase records of the violence that occurred that day.

“A lot of politicians’ careers now depend on the record of the attack on the Capitol being rewritten,” Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor who worked on January 6 cases, said. “Making these exhibits widely available will make it harder for people to hide the history of what happened on January 6.”

The filing also alleges that in the days after Trump took office, the “Department of Justice also began removing important information about the Capitol Cases from its website”.