WASHINGTON ― House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday that Republicans are blurring faces in security footage from inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to protect rioters from prosecution.
“We have to blur some of the faces of 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 said at a news conference.
The Department of Justice has long had access to the footage and has used it in some of the roughly 1,200 criminal cases against people linked to the riot, when hundreds pushed past police to storm the Capitol.
Johnson’s comment is a remarkable statement of sympathy for supporters of then-President Donald Trump who illegally entered a restricted federal building as part of a violent attack on Congress as it met to certify the Electoral College vote before Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Though prosecutors already have the video, blurring people’s faces could prevent amateur investigators from sending tips to the FBI. Online sleuths have previously used social media and facial recognition software to help the government track down a number of suspects.
In a follow-up statement on Tuesday, a Johnson spokesperson said blurring faces would “prevent all forms of retaliation against private citizens from any non-governmental actors.”
Shortly after becoming speaker in October, Johnson announced that Republicans would release thousands of hours of footage from security cameras, fulfilling a pledge he made to the far-right flank of the House GOP conference. The video has previously been available to criminal defendants and reporters by request.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-johnson-jan-6-footage_n_656f46cce4b09331c7f2219e 