BREAKING: Speaker Mike Johnson makes all Capitol footage from January 6 available
More than 44,000 hours of footage from the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol is set to be released to the public, following an announcement by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson announced the release of the footage in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Friday afternoon. While not all of the footage will be immediately available, the Speaker said the government would move "as quickly as possible" to "immediately" release the footage.
Follow the link below to view the January 6th tapes for yourself.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) November 17, 2023
To restore America’s trust and faith in their Government we must have transparency. This is another step towards keeping the promises I made when I was elected to be your Speaker.
This website will be updated…
A website featuring all of the footage was launched, where the public can view the videos. With the first batch of tape released today, the Washington Examiner reports the “House Administration Committee will continue posting additional videos over the next several months.”
Those curious can view the footage by clicking here.
"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," Johnson said in a statement, the Examiner reports.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson stirred controversy earlier this year after releasing footage from the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot on his show.
Tucker Carlson releases footage claiming that the QAnon Shaman was escorted by police throughout the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 riot.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 7, 2023
pic.twitter.com/SHBjGYspBz
At the time, Carlson described the protesters as "orderly and meek." Outlets like Rolling Stone accused Carlson of cherry-picking clips to make soften the day's events, doubling down on the "insurrectionist" narrative used to describe the event.
Video released will blur individuals faces, Speaker Johnson said. Around 5% of the footage would not be released for security reasons "related to the building architecture."
“The goal of our investigation has been to provide the American people with transparency on what happened at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and this includes all official video from that day,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), chairman of the House Administration Committee's Oversight Subcommittee.
Horrifying footage released from Mike Johnson, of the violent January 6th insurrection that was worse than 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined: pic.twitter.com/efGtmggMLI
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) November 17, 2023
In clips circulating online, commentators have contrasted some of the more tame events with the dark picture painted by legacy media outlets.
“Horrifying footage released from Mike Johnson, of the violent January 6th insurrection that was worse than 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined,” quipped Savanah Hernandez in response to a footage of an orderly row of protesters passing numerous officers.

