Speaker Johnson Statement on January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol Security Tapes

WASHINGTON – Speaker Mike Johnson released the following statement praising the House Administration Committee’s decision to make the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill security footage available to all Americans and publicly post all footage online that does not contain sensitive security information or information that would lead to retaliation of private citizens:

“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. Today we will begin immediately posting video on a public website and move as quickly as possible to add to the website nearly all of the footage, more than 40,000 hours. In the meantime, a public viewing room will ensure that every citizen can view every minute of the videos uncensored.

“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. 

“I commend Chairman Loudermilk and his team for their diligent work to ensure the thousands of hours of videos are promptly processed to be uploaded to the committee’s public website. Processing will involve blurring the faces of private citizens on the yet unreleased tapes to avoid any persons from being targeted for retaliation of any kind and segregating an estimated 5% of the videos that may involve sensitive security information related to the building architecture.”

BACKGROUND

• The House Administration Committee’s action keeps Speaker Johnson’s promise to make the January 6, 2021, tapes available to the American people.

• The Committee estimates approximately 95% of footage (well over 40,000 hours) will be made available publicly.

• Footage will be reviewed to ensure it does not expose security sensitive information or provide a roadmap for the doxing and harassment of private citizens.

• The first tranche of footage, roughly 90 hours, will be posted today, and we anticipate the rest of the footage will be posted over the next several months in waves.

• Starting Monday, media organizations, non-profits, criminal defendants, and every U.S. citizen will now have the ability to view each minute of the 44,000 hours of footage, including that which will not be posted online for security or harassment concerns.

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