Jan 6 filmmaker forced to hire two armed guards

British documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, whose testimony to the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot made him a household name in US politics last week, told the BBC on Wednesday night that he now needs multiple armed guards to protect his safety.

“My life changed about a week ago and I now literally have two armed guards outside this studio right now that follow me around everywhere,” Mr Holder said on the programme.

Mr Holder, previously a little-known filmmaker, had been following key figures in former president Donald Trump’s White House for months leading up to the 2020 presidential election and continued to track them through the Captiol riot on January 6 for a three-part documentary series set to premiere on Discovery+ later this summer.

He was summoned to appear before the House select committee, which viewed portions of Mr Holder’s footage from interviews with the likes of Vice President Mike Pence. As a result, Mr Holder has been threatened.

“According to some, I’m an undercover FBI agent, some think I’m an MI6 spy, and there’s all sorts of conspiracies and threats that are coming through,” Mr Holder told the BBC.

The January 6 hearings have been rife with witnesses testifying as to how they were threatened for opposing Mr Trump’s attempts to subvert democracy and retain power after he Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election. A former Trump administration official said yesterday that they are currently concerned for the safety of star witness Cassidy Hutchinson.

Mr Holder, who was connected to Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner through longtime Trump associate Jason Greenblatt, has maintained that Mr Trump’s team had no editorial control over his film.

According to a Discovery+ spokesperson, the documentary series will include "never-before-seen footage of the Trump family on the campaign trail and their reactions to the outcome of the election,” along with “intimate and unprecedented interviews with Trump, his family and others who were in the White House."

Mr Holder has promised that he will comply with any investigation into Mr Trump moving forward.