by Steven Richards
Just the News on Tuesday obtained footage of an undercover Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer recorded by his body-worn camera behind police lines on the U.S. Capitol grounds. The footage was obtained directly from official sources and has not been altered.
He is seen giving water to his fellow police officers who were suffering from the effects of tear gas which the Capitol Police had deployed against the pro-Trump protestors. The footage showed the officer in plainclothes with a grey jacket. Spotted in the video and identifying him as a police officer is a badge hanging around his neck.
While helping his fellow officer, the undercover officer told his colleague that “we go undercover as Antifa in a crowd.”
The footage obtained by Just the News is embedded in the player above. It was turned over to Congress recently to investigators for House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who are investigating the official police response on Jan. 6.
A snippet of the video began appearing on social media a few week. Just the News obtained the complete bodycam footage and verified its authenticity.
The video does not make clear whether the officer was referring to being undercover as Antifa in the crowd of Trump supporters gathered at the Capitol on that day or to any prior experience with Antifa protests, such as during the Summer 2020 BLM riots that swept the country.
The officer’s words are likely to raise more questions during the House GOP probe of the wider police response on Jan. 6.
Just the News has learned that Congressional investigators believe that the officer captured in the footage wearing plainclothes is a member of the MPD’s Electronic Surveillance Unit (ESU).
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Last week, Just the News reported on other January 6 security footage that shows a group of unidentified individuals delivering and hauling materials for and building the infamous wooden gallows on the National Mall.
No MPD or Capitol Police interfered with or questioned the individuals during construction of the gallows, which remained standing throughout the protests that day.
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Steven Richards joined Just the News in August 2023 after previously working as a Research Analyst for the Government Accountability Institute (GAI) in Tallahassee, Florida.
Photo “January 6 Footage” by Just the News.
