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The newly released footage shows for the first time the brazen March 25 attack, which authorities have described as a random act of violence. It is brief — the encounter lasts less than a minute — but harrowing.

The staffer’s friend is seen trying to pull the attacker off, and then someone appears to yell “go away, go away.” The assailant — who is wearing a dark-colored, hooded jacket — stumbles away out of view of the camera.

Friend who intervened to stop attack on Rand Paul staffer speaks out

The security video was played in D.C. Superior Court last month at the preliminary hearing for Glynn Neal, the 42-year-old man charged with assault with intent to kill in the attack.

Prosecutors initially declined to release the footage, though they eventually did so after The Washington Post filed a motion asking D.C. Superior Court Judge Anthony C. Epstein to intervene.

The judge issued an order noting that The Post’s motion would become unnecessary if the prosecutors, who had possession of the video, released it — which they did hours later. Neal’s attorneys had objected, arguing that releasing the video could prejudice their client’s efforts in obtaining an impartial jury. They noted at the hearing, though, that the attacker’s face was not identifiable.

The victim in the attack, Phillip Todd, was stabbed multiple times in his head and chest, suffering a brain bleed and punctured lung that required several surgeries, prosecutors said. His friend, Christopher Barnard, was not wounded.