What publicly released video shows Nancy Pelosi on January 6, 2021 inside the Capitol?
Executive summary
A publicly released video showing Nancy Pelosi inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 is documentary footage shot by her daughter, filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi, for an HBO project and subsequently turned over to Congress; portions of that footage were played by the House Select Committee in October 2022 and later published in new batches by the House Committee on Administration in 2024 [1] [2] [3] [4]. Republican members of the House used the August 2024 release to spotlight clips in which Pelosi says “I take full responsibility,” while news outlets and fact-checkers caution that the footage shows her evacuation and reactions, not proof of coordinated culpability [4] [5] [2].
1. What the video is and who filmed it
The footage at issue was recorded by Alexandra Pelosi for an HBO documentary and captures then‑Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders as they were evacuated and sheltered during the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021; HBO produced the material and later supplied it to congressional investigators and committees [1] [2] [6].
2. When and where it was first shown publicly
Portions of Alexandra Pelosi’s recordings were publicly shown during the House Select Committee’s hearings in October 2022, when the panel played clips of leaders, including Pelosi, reacting in real time as the siege unfolded; the committee used the footage to illustrate lawmakers’ efforts to communicate with officials and seek help [1] [2].
3. Subsequent releases and Republican framing in 2024
In 2024 the Committee on House Administration’s Republican members published additional unaired HBO footage that had been provided to the committee, releasing compilations that emphasize Pelosi saying “I take full responsibility” and questioning decisions about National Guard deployments; the committee posted the footage and issued press releases asserting it undercuts Democratic narratives of January 6 [4] [3] [5].
4. How mainstream outlets described the footage
Major news organizations that reviewed the newly released material described it as a detailed, real‑time look at Pelosi’s movements and reaction while being evacuated — reporting the clips show her anger toward the violence, phone calls with officials, and lines such as calling Trump a “domestic enemy” in at least some segments — while also noting the footage’s provenance as Alexandra Pelosi’s HBO recordings [6] [7] [5].
5. Claims, counterclaims and what the video does — and does not — prove
Republican leaders presenting the 2024 releases argued the clips demonstrate Pelosi admitting responsibility for security lapses and therefore shifting blame away from former President Trump; critics and fact‑checkers caution that the footage documents reactions and conversations during evacuation and does not by itself establish who legally or operationally controlled National Guard deployments on Jan. 6, or prove broader conspiracy claims about the attack being staged [4] [3] [2]. Independent outlets that previously used the same repository of footage during the Jan. 6 investigation framed it as evidence of lawmakers’ immediate response and efforts to contact authorities, not as stand‑alone proof of culpability or orchestration [1] [2].
6. Reporting limits and where the video is held
Public reporting identifies the material as unaired HBO documentary footage now in congressional possession and circulated by committee offices and news outlets; reporting cites committee press releases and broadcast segments as the vehicles by which the clips were made public, but the reporting here does not host the raw master files and cannot assert every frame’s provenance beyond the committee’s and HBO’s statements [4] [3] [6] [2].