US to release over 40,000 hours of Capitol riots footage to public

More than 40,000 hours of security video from the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol is to be released to the public, the new Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives has said.

"Today, I am keeping my promise to the American people and making all the January 6th tapes available to ALL Americans," Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said on X.

"Truth and transparency are critical."

Johnson, who has endorsed former president Donald Trump's bid to recapture the White House in 2024, said the Capitol Hill security video would be posted in batches on a public website.

"In the meantime, a public viewing room will ensure that every citizen can view every minute of the videos uncensored," he said.

"This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organisations, 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."

Avoiding targeted retaliation

The thousands of hours of surveillance footage have already been reviewed by a congressional committee that investigated the attack on Congress by Trump supporters seeking to halt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

The House of Representatives Select Committee recommended that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, be charged with insurrection and other offences in connection with the Capitol riot.

Trump is to go on trial in Washington in March on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and more than 1,200 people have been arrested in connection with the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Johnson said the faces of private citizens would be blurred to "avoid any persons from being targeted for retaliation", and video of sensitive Capitol building security information would be withheld.