(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced that a federal court ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to begin producing records by November 16, 2026, in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking information about CIA personnel and support at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Judicial Watch filed the July 2024 lawsuit after the CIA failed to respond to a March 2024 FOIA request asking the agency to produce CIA records concerning the January 6, 2021, events in Washington, DC, including shots fired and a person shot inside the U.S. Capitol, requests for CIA assistance, bomb technicians and bomb-detection dogs deployed or placed on standby, and after-action reports documenting the events (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency (No. 1:24-cv-02172)).
In March 2024, Judicial Watch received 88 pages of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) records from the Department of Justice in a FOIA lawsuit that show the CIA deployed personnel to Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.
The records include a series of text messages under the heading “January 7 Intel Chain” in which two separate references to participation by the CIA are made. One states that “two CIA bomb techs” are assisting with “a pipe bomb scene on New Jersey and D ST SE.” Another record references “several CIA dog teams on standby.”
In the October 15, 2026, minute order, U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb directed the CIA to begin rolling interim productions of responsive records by November 16, rejecting the agency’s refusal to provide records next year:
MINUTE ORDER re [24] Notice: Defendant received Plaintiff’s request in March 2024, ECF 1 ¶ 8, and, at one point, represented that it “anticipated beginning rolling productions no later than April 2025,” ECF 23 at 2. Defendant did not meet that anticipated deadline after identifying additional necessary searches. ECF 23 at 2. The Court’s September 24, 2026 minute order directed Defendant to identify a date certain on which it would begin rolling interim productions of responsive records. Defendant’s [24] notice indicated that it will not process rolling productions and will instead produce non-exempt responsive material by May 24, 2027. Because Defendant did not provide a date certain to begin rolling productions as the Court ordered, and has offered no explanation for its position, the Court will set a date that it finds reasonable based on the record. Accordingly, the Court ORDERS Defendant to begin rolling interim productions of responsive records by November 16, 2026. Signed by Judge Jia M. Cobb on October 15, 2026. (lcjmc1)
“Judicial Watch is pleased the court clapped back against the CIA’s utter contempt for the American people’s right to know what it was up to at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. We look forward to finally getting documents next month – after years of cover-up,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Judicial Watch has pursued details of January 6 on several fronts.
In July 2026, it forced the release of over 1,000 hours of Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department body-worn camera footage from the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol event.
In April 2026, Judicial Watch filed a (FOIA) lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to obtain records related to possible improper targeting of January 6, 2021, Capitol protesters, their supporters, and related nonprofits.
In July 2025, Judicial Watch sued the U.S. Department of Justice for records on accelerated January 6 prosecutions after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2024.
In June 2025, Judicial Watch obtained a $4.975 million settlement in the wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. Government filed on behalf of the family of Ashli Babbitt, the U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed inside the U.S. Capitol by then-Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd on January 6, 2021. Ashli Babbitt was the only January 6 homicide victim.
In October 2023, Judicial Watch received the declaration of James W. Joyce, senior counsel in the Office of the General Counsel for the Capitol Police, in which he describes emails among senior officials of the United States Capitol Police (USCP) in January 2021 that show warnings of possible January 6 protests that could lead to serious disruptions at the U.S. Capitol.
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