The Epoch Times earlier this year began investigating 41,000 hours of U.S. Capitol Police Jan. 6 security video. Starting in late April, the newspaper scrubbed through hundreds of hours of video that was previously hidden under court seal. Access to this trove of video was provided in a room...
www.theepochtimes.com
WASHINGTON—A three-month investigation by The Epoch Times of 41,000 hours of U.S. Capitol Police surveillance video has uncovered dramatic footage that in many cases challenges longstanding narratives about what took place on Jan. 6, 2021.
Since late April, the newspaper has analyzed hundreds of hours of video that was previously hidden from public view.
The first results of this ongoing investigation are presented in an Epoch TV Special Report with host Joshua Philipp and senior investigative reporter Joe Hanneman.
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Who is Pink Beret?
Bystanders in the huge crowds at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 couldn't help but notice the young woman with the stylish clothes, high heels, Dolce & Gabbana handbag, and a pink beret perched on her head. She became known on social media by the hashtag #PinkBeret.
A woman at the time known only as "Pink Beret" directed and lured people into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a defense attorney contends. (U.S. District Court-Open Source Video/Screenshots via The Epoch Times)
Pink Beret was in the crowd that watched the first breach of police lines near the Peace Fountain on the Capitol's west front at about 12:50 p.m. Jan. 6 defendant Darrell Neely told a federal court in his criminal trial that Pink Beret lured him into the Capitol Visitor Center and tried to saddle him with a bag full of police gear she picked up off the floor.
"It is clear Pink Beret was on a mission to get to the Capitol as quickly as possible and to be one of the first to get there," Neely's attorney, Kira West, wrote in a court filing. "We know this because she ran across grass—in heels."
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Officer Brian Sicknick
Some of the most dramatic CCTV footage acquired by The Epoch Times showed the disabling of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died the day after the Capitol protest and riots of Jan. 6.
Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. (United States Capitol Police via AP)
Mr. Sicknick, 42, of Springfield, Va.—a 13-year U.S. Capitol Police veteran and central New Jersey native—died late on Jan. 7, 2021. His cause of death was two strokes. It was ruled a natural death by the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Mr. Sicknick was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia after lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda in February 2021.
Federal prosecutors charged two men with assaulting Mr. Sicknick with pepper spray: Julian Elie Khater, 34, of Somerset, New Jersey, and George P. Tanios, 41, of Morgantown, West Virginia.
The video shows that just after 2:20 p.m., Mr. Sicknick and two MPD officers charged out into the crowd of rioters...
...an MPD commander fired numerous bursts of pepper spray from a high-velocity tank that snaked 20 feet or more into the crowd, the video shows. Both the stream of pepper spray and a plume of cast-off caused by stiff winds passed near the left side of Sicknick’s face, the video shows.
Mr. Sicknick quickly retreated from the scene, just ahead of a rioter who charged at him and an MPD officer. He rinsed out his eyes near the inauguration scaffolding, then climbed the southwest steps to the upper terrace. He remained on duty but collapsed at about 10 p.m. after officers noticed him slurring his speech.
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Mr. Khater's father and Mr. Tanios said they never saw the video before being shown the footage by The Epoch Times.
“They [expletive] withheld this. Big time. Oh, my God. My God,” Mr. Tanios told The Epoch Times while watching the footage.
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Elie Khater, Julian Khater's father, said the video is another example of the system being tipped against defendants.
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The New York Times published a 2021 story claiming Mr. Trump's supporters smashed Mr. Sicknick's head with a fire extinguisher, causing his death. That claim was eventually retracted but is still repeated 30 months after Mr. Sicknick's death.
Oath Keepers
When five Oath Keepers defendants went on trial in September 2022 for alleged seditious conspiracy to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, a key piece of prosecution evidence was an alleged three-way phone call initiated by Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III.
Prosecutors alleged Mr. Rhodes spoke with Florida Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs and Jan. 6 operations director Michael “Whip” Greene with instructions to attack the Capitol.
Defense attorneys argued the call never happened, and the communications Mr. Rhodes attempted that afternoon were meant to tell the Oath Keepers to get away from the Capitol, not attack it.