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Court Orders Release of Officer Fanone’s January 6 Body Camera Footage

A Washington, D.C. Superior Court judge has ordered the Metropolitan Police Department to release body camera footage from January 6, 2021 — including footage recorded by Officer Michael Fanone — after ruling that the District’s attempt to withhold it failed to meet the legal standard for privacy exemptions under D.C.’s Freedom of Information Act.

The ruling came from Judge Veronica Sanchez following a January 8, 2026 hearing in Judicial Watch v. District of Columbia, a FOIA lawsuit filed by the conservative watchdog group in June 2024. The court rejected the District’s argument that it could redact the faces and voices of all non-law enforcement individuals appearing in the footage, finding that while those individuals may have a limited privacy interest, that interest is minimal and does not outweigh the strong public interest in disclosure. The court emphasized that the events of January 6 occurred largely in public settings, were widely recorded, and remain a matter of significant national concern. Fox News

Judicial Watch originally sought Fanone’s specific body camera footage in 2021, after Fanone testified before the House Select Committee: “My body camera captured the violence of the crowd directed toward me during those very frightening moments. It’s an important part of the record for this Committee’s investigation and for the country’s understanding of how I was assaulted and nearly killed.” The District withheld the footage for nearly five years, citing an ongoing criminal investigation — a justification that expired with President Trump’s pardons of January 6 defendants. Daily Wire

The ruling covers not just Fanone’s footage but all body camera recordings from MPD officers who responded to the Capitol on January 6 — potentially over 1,000 hours of footage. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton called the ruling “a victory for transparency” and said “the American people deserve the full picture from the incident at the Capitol.” Wislawjournal

The footage has been the subject of significant legal battles since 2021. Multiple major news organizations — including the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, and NBC News — separately sued for access to body camera evidence in various January 6 cases, with mixed results. The Biden-era Justice Department had opposed many of those release efforts.

What the footage actually shows remains to be seen. Fanone himself has consistently said the video supports his account of being attacked and nearly killed. Whether its release changes any significant element of the public record about January 6 will only be known once it is made available.

Sources: Judicial Watch Victory Press Release | Judicial Watch — Original Lawsuit | Just the News | Washington Examiner