A conservative activist group is accusing Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of ducking its requests for information related to the tragic Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Judicial Watch, a legal affairs group, announced on Friday that it had sued the U.S. Capitol Police for information relative to the riot.
The group maintains it did so after the police agency failed to respond to a Jan. 21 public records request.
Specifically, Judicial Watch wanted emails exchanged between the Capitol Police Executive Team and the Capitol Police Board, whose members are appointed by Congress and the president, from Jan. 1 to Jan. 10 about security at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The agency is overseen by four separate congressional committees.
The group also sought emails traded by the Police Board and the FBI, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
Finally, Judicial Watch asked for “all” video footage from inside the Capitol between 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Jan. 6.
In a terse reply to Judicial Watch, the Capitol Police’s general counsel wrote, “We decline to provide the information requested in the attached January 21, 2021 Records Request. The email communications and video footage information requested in the attached are not public records.”
The response did not cite any legal authority by which the request could be denied.
“The public has a right to know about how Congress handled security and what all the videos show of the U.S. Capitol riot,” Judicial Watch said in a press release.
“What are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer trying to hide from the American people?”
Recall that GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham more or less made the same point during former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
Graham warned in a Fox News interview that if Democrats called witnesses to testify, Republicans will “want the FBI to come in and tell us how people actually pre-planned these attacks and what happened with the security footprint at the Capitol.”
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