The United States government is doubling down on its efforts to keep the true story of January 6, 2021, shrouded in secrecy, as evidenced by a recent court filing opposing January 6 defendant Ryan Zink’s motion to lift a protective order on discovery materials. Filed on April 16, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the government’s 13-page brief claims that releasing these materials would endanger “witnesses and victims” and threaten national security.
But a closer look reveals a troubling narrative: the so-called “victims” are likely the Metropolitan and Capitol Police officers who escalated a peaceful protest into chaos, and the “witnesses” include shadowy groups like the “Sedition Hunters,” whose advanced AI tools raise more questions than answers. Ryan Zink, a pardoned J6 defendant now running for Congress, is determined to expose the truth about that day and the relentless lawfare that followed, but the government is pulling out all the stops to silence him.
The Government’s Claims About “Victims” and “Witnesses”
The government’s filing insists that the protective order, which Zink seeks to lift, is necessary to protect the privacy of “victims” and “witnesses” and to safeguard national security. But who are these victims? The only plausible candidates are the Metropolitan and Capitol Police officers who in many instances instigated violence on January 6 by launching tear gas grenades and firing rubber bullets into a peaceful crowd. Before a single protester entered the Capitol, the situation had already turned deadly: Kevin Greeson and Benjamin Phillips lost their lives, Matthew Joshua Black was shot in the face with a rubber bullet, and Derrick Vargo narrowly escaped death at the hands of a Capitol Police officer who pushed him from a 30-foot ledge. These are the real victims of January 6, yet the government’s narrative conveniently ignores them, focusing instead on protecting the officers who set the stage for tragedy.