Report: Federal Prosecutor Admits That Undercover Cops Incited J6 Rioters To Violence, Fights To Keep Video Sealed
From Tampa Free Press
Article By Liam Edgar, Original Publish Date: March 25, 2023
A Kansas man accused of being a Jan. 6, 2021, rioter at the U.S. Capitol has asked a judge to release an undercover police video that his lawyers claim shows cops urging people toward violence.
According to the Epoch Times, Trump supporter William Pope says the video shows three undercover officers from the Washington, D.C., police department encouraging protesters to breach the Capitol.
Federal prosecutors agreed with Pope’s assessment, saying in court records that officers did chant “Go! Go!” as protesters swarmed the scene, the Times reported.
They argue the defendant only wants to release the video to try the case in the media and that doing so would put the officers at risk.
According to the Times, the cops were part of a 30-officer undercover squad deployed by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Electronic Surveillance Unit. One of the officers captured the violence on a GoPro camera.
One of the cops, identified by the Times as Officer 1, repeatedly joined protesters in chants of “Drain the swamp!” and “Our house! Our house! Our house!”
As rioters moved up the steps on the northwest side of the Capitol, Officer 1 then repeatedly shouted, “C’mon, man, let’s go! … C’mon, go, go, go! … Keep going! Keep going!”
In court documents filed on Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Moran acknowledged the officers promoted lawlessness.
“The specific footage, GoPro video recorded by an MPD police officer who was stationed at the Capitol in an evidence-gathering capacity, captures the officer shouting words to the effect of, ‘Go! Go! Go!’” Moran stated.
“At other times in these videos, the officer and the two other plainclothes officers with him appear to join the crowd around them in various chants, including “drain the swamp,” “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”, and “Whose house? Our house!”
But she also claimed the “volatile nature” of the videos would put the officers at risk if their identities were known.
“The defendant is not entitled to ‘undesignate’ these videos to share them with unlimited third parties,” Moran said in arguing to keep the videos sealed. “His desire to try his case in the media rather than in a court of law is illegitimate, and the government has met its burden to show the necessity of the protective order.”
In an interview with the Times, Pope said, “The officer clearly incited that area, and we still don’t have video from all other undercover MPD. And as the numerous informants in the Proud Boys trial demonstrates, we are only just beginning to scratch the surface on FBI involvement.”
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