A group of Republican lawmakers is asking the Department of Justice to release surveillance footage of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The story: The letter, obtained by National File, was penned by Rep Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and signed by three of his GOP colleagues in the House of Representatives, including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Louie Gohmert (R-TX).
It comes as law enforcement continues to look for culprits. So far, authorities have charged more than 500 people with crimes related to events that took place at the Capitol earlier this year.
The FBI has asked for help to identify people who took part in the riot.
The letter asks Attorney General Merrick Garland to meet with the lawmakers on Tuesday this week “to discuss the status of the January 6th prisoners and related investigations.”
It also says that “many letters inquiring into their status from Members of Congress have gone unanswered” and that “we are seven months into these matters and answers are not forthcoming.”
“The Department of Justice reports that 535 people have been arrested arising out of the events on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol Building,” Goasar wrote.
The lawmakers argued that the Justice Department should release all the footage that it has obtained of the riot because they are “a matter of extreme public importance.”
“The undersigned offices in one form or another have been requesting the release of all 14,000 hours of raw footage from surveillance cameras,” the letter reads. “Several defendants have already made plea agreements, yet it does not appear that either they, or their counsel, have had access to this potentially exculpatory evidence.”
“Every American citizen has a constitutional right to all the evidence before making any decision to go to trial,” Gosar notes, yet adds, “In our oversight capacity over the DOJ, we have asked multiple times for information only to have our inquiries ignored.”
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