House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is releasing footage of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol building to the public. Before he does, he’s having editors blur the faces of people in the footage.
“We want transparency. We should demand it. The American people do. We trust — House Republicans trust — the American people to draw their own conclusions. They should not be dictated by some narrative and accept that as fact,” Johnson said. “We have to blur some of the faces of some of [the] persons who participated in the events of that day because we don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ.”
Johnson’s office later walked back that comment. “Faces are to be blurred from public viewing room footage to prevent all forms of retaliation against private citizens from any non-governmental actors. The Department of Justice already has access to raw footage from Jan. 6, 2021,” Johnson’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Raj Shah said in a statement.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., further explained Republican concerns with retaliation: “There’s a group called sedition hunters that spends all of their time and resources and doxing these people. They find videos of them all over social media, any videos they can, and they use facial recognition software to identify them,” Greene told SAN. “Then they go to their employers, they go to their neighbors, and they go tell everyone and call them insurrectionists. Basically, intentionally ruining their lives.”
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said he doesn’t have a problem with the footage being released because the country already watched it live, but he did not agree with blurring faces.
He’s trying to protect people who he thinks could be guilty. That’s not the role of the speaker. It’s not the role of anybody really.
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.
“He’s trying to protect people who he thinks could be guilty. That’s not the role of the speaker. It’s not the role of anybody really,” Cohen told SAN.
Former U.S. federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann agreed with that assessment and added that Johnson’s actions constituted “open contempt for the rule of law and a violation of his oath of office.”
Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who was a member of the Jan. 6 investigative committee, also addressed Johnson’s comments about accepting a narrative.
“Speaker Johnson is attempting to suggest there’s something in these tapes that would change the facts of what happened,” Cheney told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “There’s nothing in the tapes that can change the facts of what happened that day, that can change the violent assault.”
Johnson said his office hired additional staff members to get the tapes out quicker but did not give an exact timeline.
