Mike Johnson says staff blurring faces of Jan. 6 participants so they won’t be ‘retaliated against’ by DOJ

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said his staff is working to blur the faces of participants of the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, delaying his plan to release the security footage.

“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 be charged by the DOJ,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday, adding that he still wants to release the tapes “as quickly as we can.”

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Johnson announced on Nov. 17 that he plans to make all tapes available to the public starting immediately, and 90 of the total 44,000 hours were released that day on the website. Additional videos from the House Administration Committee are set to be released over the next several months.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) said the tapes must be released in waves due to “sensitive data” that need to be dealt with before their release. The Georgia Republican lambasted “insurrection hunters” who are “looking to go after” anyone who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Johnson said the rollout will be a “slow process” to keep participants out of the line of fire from the Justice Department, as not blurring participants’ faces could cause them “other concerns and problems.”

The speaker said additional staff have been hired to complete the alterations and ultimately release the 44,000 hours of footage.

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Several Republicans were vocal about releasing all of the footage before backtracking over concerns of “sedition hunters” using facial recognition software to identify and possibly dox those who were at the Capitol that day.

“We want the American people to draw their own conclusions,” Johnson said. “I don’t think partisan elected officials in Washington should present a narrative and expect that it should be seen as the ultimate truth.”