https://newrepublic.com/post/177333/mike-johnson-killed-republicans-favorite-january-6-talking-point-edited-tapes
Mike Johnson Just Killed Republicans’ Favorite January 6 Talking Point
The House speaker announced Republicans are editing the January 6 tapes. That destroys one of their main arguments about what happened that day.
Tori Otten/The New Republic/December 5, 2023/11:53 a.m. ET
House Speaker Mike Johnson just accidentally obliterated the Republican Party’s favorite conspiracy theory: that the January 6 insurrection was carried out by undercover federal agents and members of antifa.
Johnson told a press conference Tuesday that the GOP is editing footage of the insurrection to prevent the Justice Department from potentially identifying rioters.
“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,” he said.
And with just one sentence, Johnson has given away the entire game. Republicans have spent the past nearly three years insisting that the riot was caused by antifa, Black Lives Matter protesters, and even undercover FBI agents. But if that’s true, then why would the GOP want to shield those people from identification?
Republicans have thrown out conspiracy after conspiracy in an attempt to divert blame from their supporters—so much so that it’s hard to capture the full scale of it in this piece. In 2021, Texas Representative Louie Gohmert said that federal agents had embedded in extremist groups and then “egged on” rioters to incite the January 6 attack.
Just last month, Representative Clay Higgins said “ghost buses” packed with “FBI informants” descended on Washington, D.C., the night of January 5 so they could pretend to be supporters of Donald Trump.
One Trump supporter, Ray Epps, sued Fox News in July for defamation. Prominent right-wing figures on the network, including former Fox host Tucker Carlson, repeatedly claimed Epps was an FBI agent.
In reality, hundreds of people arrested for participating in the January 6 attack said they went to Washington because they felt Trump had personally told them to. And now, Johnson has revealed that Republicans don’t want any more people who tried to overthrow the government to face any repercussions.
@suzianne saidThat doesn't make any sense; all those tapes are from Capitol Hill security and are already accessible to the DOJ which has used them in many prosecutions.
https://newrepublic.com/post/177333/mike-johnson-killed-republicans-favorite-january-6-talking-point-edited-tapes
Mike Johnson Just Killed Republicans’ Favorite January 6 Talking Point
The House speaker announced Republicans are editing the January 6 tapes. That destroys one of their main arguments about what happened that day.
Tori Otten/The New Republic/ ...[text shortened]... ublicans don’t want any more people who tried to overthrow the government to face any repercussions.
Most likely, he said something dumb to placate the usual right wing nuts - even his office knows the DOJ has these tapes: "In a statement emailed to Newsweek, Raj Shah, deputy chief of staff for communications for Johnson, clarified and said: "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."
https://www.newsweek.com/mike-johnson-blur-faces-january-6-footage-1849782
@suzianne saidJohnson told a press conference Tuesday that the GOP is editing footage of the insurrection to prevent the Justice Department from potentially identifying rioters.
https://newrepublic.com/post/177333/mike-johnson-killed-republicans-favorite-january-6-talking-point-edited-tapes
Mike Johnson Just Killed Republicans’ Favorite January 6 Talking Point
The House speaker announced Republicans are editing the January 6 tapes. That destroys one of their main arguments about what happened that day.
Tori Otten/The New Republic/ ...[text shortened]... ublicans don’t want any more people who tried to overthrow the government to face any repercussions.
I'm afraid it's a little late for that. Most of these rioters have already been tried and convicted. In addition, many news organizations have this unedited footage in their archives and will be happy to replay it for the Justice dept. and on national TV. Speaker Johnson isn't fooling anyone.
Is this really what we're paying him to do?
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@suzianne said“newrepublic.com”
https://newrepublic.com/post/177333/mike-johnson-killed-republicans-favorite-january-6-talking-point-edited-tapes
Mike Johnson Just Killed Republicans’ Favorite January 6 Talking Point
The House speaker announced Republicans are editing the January 6 tapes. That destroys one of their main arguments about what happened that day.
Tori Otten/The New Republic/ ...[text shortened]... ublicans don’t want any more people who tried to overthrow the government to face any repercussions.
😂
@Mott-The-Hoople
So you didn't actually watch the stupid video from Johnson himself. These were his words not made up BS.
I saw that clip myself days ago and it was obvious what was going on to all but the Trump cultists like yourself.
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@sonhouse saidyou dont even understand the article...he blurred some faces to protect them from the radical left.
@Mott-The-Hoople
So you didn't actually watch the stupid video from Johnson himself. These were his words not made up BS.
I saw that clip myself days ago and it was obvious what was going on to all but the Trump cultists like yourself.