众议院议长迈克·约翰逊周二表示，他正在模糊完整的监控录像从1月6日对美国国会大厦的袭击以保护参与者免受执法部门的指控——一位发言人很快推翻了这一声明。
“我们必须模糊参与那天事件的一些人的面孔，因为我们不希望他们受到报复，被DOJ(司法部)指控，并有其他的，你知道，关注和问题，”约翰逊，他加入了其他一些共和党人寻求推翻特朗普2020年大选失利，在新闻发布会上说。
在一份声明中在社交媒体上发布然而，不久之后，发言人拉吉·沙阿写道:“公众观察室的镜头中的人脸将被模糊化，以防止任何非政府行为者对普通公民进行任何形式的报复。司法部已经可以获得2021年1月6日以来的原始镜头。”
事实上，联邦调查人员已经掌握了那天的模糊镜头近三年用它来帮助识别嫌疑犯在暴乱中，有时在公众的帮助下。
根据DOJ的说法，迄今为止，已有1200多人因与1月6日有关而被起诉，其中包括117人被指控使用致命或危险武器或对一名警察造成严重身体伤害。
“这是司法部有史以来范围最广、最重要的调查。我们这样做是因为这种颠覆合法选举的努力，将权力从一个政府转移到另一个政府，损害了美国民主的根本，”司法部长梅里克·加兰在2022年说。
然而，1月6日的安全录像带也引起了保守派越来越多的兴趣。今年早些时候，当时的福克斯新闻频道东道主塔克·卡尔森用了一些监控录像，由当时的议长凯文·麦卡锡向他透露，试图淡化骚乱为和平。
国会警察局长托马斯·曼格(Thomas Manger)当时在一份内部备忘录中表示，卡尔森对这些磁带的报道“充满了攻击性和误导性的结论”。
前总统唐纳德·特朗普曾表示，1月6日被指控的嫌疑人是“人质”。
约翰逊周二对记者发表讲话时强调，1月6日数万小时安全录像带的公布是一项“关键而重要的工作”，并再次表示，公开分享这些录像带关乎“透明度”
“众议院共和党人相信美国人民会得出他们自己的结论，”他说。
美国众议院议长迈克·约翰逊。2023年12月5日，华盛顿美国国会大厦的新闻发布会上。
德鲁·安格雷尔/盖蒂图片社
约翰逊说:“我们正在有条不紊地尽可能快地发布这些(录像带)。
他说模糊的过程是“缓慢的”,但是“我们正在稳步前进”。我们已经雇用了额外的人员来做那件事。所有这些磁带最终都将被删除。”
民主党人批评了他公布完整录像的决定。
在上个月的一份声明中，众议院行政委员会的资深成员、纽约众议员乔·莫雷尔(Joe Morelle)称此举“不合情理”，并表示这将“削弱国会警察，使国会安全政治化”。
House speaker says Jan. 6 footage should be blurred to protect rioters, then backtracks
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he was blurring the complete surveillance footagefrom the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitolin order to protect participants from being charged by law enforcement -- a statement soon reversed by a spokesman.
"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 [Department of Justice] and to have other, you know, concerns and problems," Johnson, who joined some other Republicans in seekingto overturn Trump's 2020 election defeat, said at a press conference.
In a statementissued on social mediasoon after, however, spokesman Raj Shah wrote: "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 January 6, 2021."
Indeed, federal investigators have possessed the blurred footage from that day for nearly three years andhave used it to help identify suspectsin the riot, sometimes with the public's help.
To date, more than 1,200 people have been charged in connection with Jan. 6, including 117 people who have been accused of using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to a police officer, according to the DOJ.
"This is the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into. And we have done so because this effort to upend a legitimate election, transferring power from one administration to another, cuts at the fundamental of American democracy," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in 2022.
However, the Jan. 6 security tapes have also become of increasing interest in conservative circles. Earlier this year, then-Fox News host Tucker Carlsonused some of the surveillance footage, released to him by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, to try and play down the rioting as peaceful.
Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said in an internal memo at the time that Carlson's coverage of the tapes was "filled with offensive and misleading conclusions."
Former President Donald Trump has said suspects charged in Jan. 6 are "hostages."
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Johnson emphasized that the release of the tens of thousands of hours of Jan. 6 security tapes was a "critical and important exercise" and again said that sharing them publicly was about "transparency."
"House Republicans trust the American people to draw their own conclusions," he said.
"We're going through a methodical process of releasing them [the tapes] as quickly as we can," Johnson said.
He said the process of blurring was "slow" but "we're working steadily on it. We've hired additional personnel to do that. And all of those tapes ultimately at the end will be out."
Democrats have criticized his decision to release the full footage.
In a statement last month, New York Rep. Joe Morelle, the ranking member on House Administration Committee, called the move "unconscionable" and said it would "undermine the Capitol Police and politicize Capitol security."
