<p>House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Tuesday that Republicans are blurring out the faces of individuals seen in the January 6 U.S. Capitol breach security camera footage — a move his office clarified would protect Americans from being identified by non-governmental investigators and private citizens.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in the events of that day because we don&#8217;t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ and to have other, you know, concerns and problems,&#8221; Johnson told reporters during a <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?532220-1/house-republican-agenda" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Republican Agenda</a> briefing.</p>
<p>Johnson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/speaker-johnson-announces-public-release-of-january-6-footage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> last month that the GOP-led House would begin rolling out the disclosure of more than 40,000 hours of footage to a website, except a small portion that may contain sensitive security information or information that could lead to retaliation against private citizens.</p>
<p>The decision to release the footage, he <a href="https://www.speaker.gov/speaker-johnson-statement-on-january-6-2021-u-s-capitol-security-tapes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time, would allow the American people, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media to witness for themselves what happened on that infamous day rather than relying upon &#8220;a small group of government officials.&#8221; His remarks come as <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/09/19/public-trust-in-government-1958-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">public trust in the U.S. government</a> continues to sink to an all-time low.</p>
<p>&#8220;The release of the January 6 tapes is a critical, important exercise — we want transparency,&#8221; he said. &#8220;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 so they can review the tapes themselves.&#8221;</p>
<p>Although blurring out faces could prevent non-governmental investigators from using facial recognition software to help federal authorities track down those seen on the nation&#8217;s capital property, the Department of Justice accessed the footage almost immediately after the crowds were cleared.</p>
<p>&#8220;Faces are to be blurred from public viewing room footage to prevent all forms of retaliation against private citizens from any non-governmental actors,&#8221; Raj Shah, deputy chief of staff for communications in the Speaker&#8217;s office, told The Daily Wire in an emailed statement. &#8220;The Department of Justice already has access to raw footage from January 6, 2021.&#8221;</p>
<p>The footage has allowed prosecutors to bring roughly 1,200 criminal cases in connection to the breach.</p>
<p>The Daily Wire reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.</p>
<p>Some Republican lawmakers and others have long pressed for releasing security footage of the day when a crowd of people entered the U.S. Capitol, disrupting lawmakers&#8217; meeting to certify President Joe Biden&#8217;s 2020 election victory.</p>
<p>House Republicans, including Johnson, have long criticized the January 6 Committee, which investigated the national capitol&#8217;s breach for over a year and a half.</p>
<p>In the final report <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-the-jan-6-committees-summary-of-its-final-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">summary</a>, the committee, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, recommended criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for his role in the events that day — marking a historical moment in U.S. history as no former president has ever been the subject of a criminal referral from Congress.</p>
<p>Johnson called the committee a &#8220;partisan exercise.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;They claimed that it was bipartisan, but I think we all recognize that the two &#8216;Republican&#8217; members that served on that committee had another agenda,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;I think that what we got was a biased report. I think they hid some of the important evidence, and, look, we want the American people to draw their own conclusions.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think partisan elected officials in Washington should present a narrative and expect that it should be seen as the ultimate truth when we know that they hid certain elements,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) alleged in a Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/j6-committee-failed-to-preserve-records-has-no-data-on-capitol-hill-security-failures-gop-charges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> in August that the committee failed to preserve some documents, data, and video depositions.</p>
<p>But Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the committee chairman on the nine-member panel, denied the allegations.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Select Committee did not archive temporary committee records that were not elevated by the Committee&#8217;s actions, such as use in hearings or official publications, or those that did not further its investigative activities,&#8221; Thompson <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4329843-judge-blocks-trump-subpoena-jan-6/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in August, according to The Hill. &#8220;Accordingly, and contrary to your letter&#8217;s implication, the Select Committee was not obligated to archive all video recordings of transcribed interviews or depositions.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.</em></p>

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House Speaker Says GOP Lawmakers Blurred Out Faces In J6 Tapes To Prevent ‘Retaliation’

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House Speaker Says GOP Lawmakers Blurred Out Faces In J6 Tapes To Prevent ‘Retaliation’