(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Jan. 6 defendant William Pope filed a motion Monday to compel the Justice Department to release evidence related to multiple FBI agents who were among the crowd of protestors on the east side of the Capitol building.
According to Pope’s motion, those agents passively witnessed as protestors stormed Capitol Hill—and at least one of them was cheerleading the event.
Much of Pope’s assertions stem from sealed video surveillance footage he’s reviewed, as well as statements made by former FBI agent John Guandolo, who was also at the Jan. 6 protest.
I have filed a motion to compel the government to identify active-duty FBI employees who were in the crowd at the Capitol with former FBI Liaison to Capitol Police John Guandolo on January 6.
You can read the full redacted PDF here:https://t.co/gIEtUyhfDa pic.twitter.com/3RVjFelJRk
— 🇺🇸 (@FreeStateWill) February 12, 2024
Pope noted that in the wake of Jan. 6, Guandolo has made numerous statements about being with other FBI agents that day. According to Guandolo, those agents were off duty on Jan. 6, and they were later interviewed by the bureau about their presence there.
“The ones who were there with me, um, both got formerly interviewed and had to explain themselves, which is interesting, they were not … both had taken the day off, so they weren’t in an official capacity at the event, and yet they were questioned by their own leadership, about what they were doing, and why there were with me, interestingly,” Guandolo said in a recent media interview, according to Pope.
By syncing Guandolo’s own videos from Jan. 6 with CCTV footage that day, Pope said he was able to determine when and where Guandolo was—and whom he was with.
“This CCTV shows Guandolo standing behind the stage with the active-duty FBI colleagues he has repeatedly described in testimony and interviews. As people began to run up the steps, Guandolo raised a recording device and pointed it towards the east center steps, which precisely syncs to the clip Guandolo released in his video montage,” Pope said.
“Captured in the audio of Guandolo’s recording is the sound of clapping and a man exclaiming, ‘Oh! Oh! Oh man! This is huge!!!’ When Guandolo’s video is synced to CCTV camera 7231, this clapping sound directly matches the video of the FBI colleague on Guandolo’s right (Colleague 2) who was vigorously clapping,” Pope said.
“The clapping colleague is also seen turning towards Guandolo and the movements of this FBI agent’s mouth precisely match the audio of the man exclaiming, ‘Oh! Oh! Oh man! This is huge!!!’”
According to Pope, his findings indicate that active-duty FBI agents perceived events at the Capitol to not be criminal.
“From the clapping and celebratory expression, we can conclude that these FBI agents were in favor of people accessing the building and that they believed the people had a First Amendment right to be there,” Pope added.
Unfortunately for the public, much of the surveillance footage referenced by Pope is still under seal. Pope said he did provide that footage to Congress.
“Whatever Congress chooses to do with this sealed exhibit and unredacted filing is up to them. Speaker Johnson has pledged to release all the CCTV, so Congress could make these items public, but the sealed exhibit and unredacted filing will not be publicly released by me without Court permission or Congressional action,” Pope said.
Pope seeks to have the court compel the DOJ to identify all FBI employees who were on Capitol grounds, as well as all other local law enforcement with whom John Guandolo had contact—and to produce all related discovery.
The DOJ has yet to respond to Pope’s filing.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
