To appease House Freedom Caucus, Speaker Mike Johnson begins releasing Jan. 6 riot video

Simon Druker
·3 min read
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Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans on Friday gave the green light to start releasing video footage of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans on Friday gave the green light to start releasing video footage of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI

Nov. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans on Friday gave the green light to start releasing video footage of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Some video footage already was uploaded to the Committee on House Administration website as of 6 p.m. EST Friday, with more expected to be added over the weekend.

Approximately 44,000 hours of footage are expected to be online by Monday. Of that amount, around 5 percent of the footage is expected to be redacted for security concerns, Johnson said Friday.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson confirmed Friday around 44,000 hours of video of the Jan. 6 riot are being uploaded to a public website, which will be complete by Monday. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson confirmed Friday around 44,000 hours of video of the Jan. 6 riot are being uploaded to a public website, which will be complete by Monday. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI

The move to release all video that does not contain sensitive information is an effort to appease members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, which has been calling for the footage to be made public.

Johnson earlier in the week managed to pass a bill to avert a government shutdown.

The move to release the video footage was met with applause from members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI
The move to release the video footage was met with applause from members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

"This decision will provide millions of Americans, criminal defendants, public interest organizations, and the media an ability to see for themselves what happened that day, rather than having to rely upon the interpretation of a small group of government officials," Mike Johnson said on Friday.

"When I ran for speaker, I promised to make accessible to the American people the 44,000 hours of video from Capitol Hill security taken on January 6, 2021. Truth and transparency are critical ... a public viewing room will ensure that every citizen can view every minute of the videos uncensored," Johnson said in a statement.

Former president Donald Trump also applauded and thanks House Speaker Mike Johnson for releasing the footage of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Former president Donald Trump also applauded and thanks House Speaker Mike Johnson for releasing the footage of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

Faces of private citizens will be blurred in the footage.

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. publicly thanked Johnson on social media, while also reposting a message from former president Donald Trump.

"Congratulations to Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson for having the courage and fortitude to release all of the J6 tapes, which will explicitly reveal what really happened on January 6th," Trump wrote on his Truth social media platform.

Johnson on Tuesday endorsed Trump for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, saying he "endorsed him wholeheartedly," and that he was "all in" on the nomination.

More than 1,100 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach at the U.S. Capitol. More than 400 of those are charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.