(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that a federal judge in Washington, DC has ordered a status conference in its lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for all records related to events on January 6, 2021, in the U.S. Capitol. The status conference is set for today, September 24.
U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb ordered the hearing at the request of Judicial Watch in its August 2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for all records related to any shots fired inside the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, and records of requests for CIA support including bomb technicians and bomb-detecting dogs placed on standby or used in response to the massive protests in and around Washington, DC (Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency (No. 1:24-cv-02172)).
In March, 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 a Joint Status Report filed with the court on September 2, 2026, Judicial Watch argues:
More than two years after this lawsuit was filed, the agency states that it is still not finished with its search. Notably the agency does not claim that this is because the request was overbroad or otherwise unmanageable. It simply has not finished the search after more than two years.
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Accordingly, pursuant to the Court’s June 15, 2026 Minute Order, Plaintiff proposes that the agency be ordered to provide a detailed description of the status of its efforts, including but not limited to descriptions of the searches conducted and remaining to be conducted, and a date certain when the searches will be complete. The agency also should be ordered to disclose the number of records located and reviewed, the rate at which the records are being reviewed, and a date certain when the review will be complete. Finally, the agency should be ordered to provide a date certain when interim productions will begin. Alternatively, Plaintiff requests an in-person status conference to further address these matters.
“The CIA has demonstrated absolute contempt for the people’s right to know what it was up to on at the US Capitol on January 6,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Why is the CIA stonewalling the release of any documents about this important issue for over half-a-decade!”
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 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.
In June 2025, Judicial Watch concluded 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.
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