Nearly eight weeks after telling the Department of Justice he was not impressed by its arguments to keep a court seal on undercover police video from Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that the protective order keeping the video from public view will remain in place.
The apparent change of heart by Contreras stifles the request by Jan. 6 defendant William Pope of Topeka, Kansas, to remove the “highly sensitive” designation on video shot by the Metropolitan Police Department that shows undercover officers—including one who incited the crowd to go up the northwest steps to the Capitol.
The judge’s ruling denies Pope’s request to unseal and release to the public seven video files related to the undercover MPD officers….