Mike Johnson's Jan. 6 Tapes Have Gone Missing

House Speaker Mike Johnson has not yet upheld his pledge to release 44,000 hours of footage from the Capitol riot.

Johnson said on November 17 that he would release the complete archive of footage recorded when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to protest the results of the 2020 election. The House speaker, a Louisiana Republican, pledged to release the footage while campaigning for the speakership in October.

He released an initial 90 hours of footage that day, shared by the Committee on House Administration, but two weeks later no further footage has been released. While the Associated Press said the rest of the footage was expected over the coming months, The Hill reported it was expected that it would be released on November 20.

Newsweek reached out to Johnson and the Committee on House Administration via email for comment.

MAGA Republicans, including Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, have long called for the release of the footage, claiming it will prove the riot was not violent. However, Democratic politicians dispute that narrative. More than 1,000 people have been charged for their alleged role in the incident.

In August, Trump was indicted on four felony charges for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the runup to the Capitol riot: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and continues to deny any wrongdoing.

"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 upon announcing the footage would be released.

He added the video would be processed to blur the faces of individuals "to avoid any persons from being targeted for retaliation of any kind." He added that an estimated 5 percent of the footage will not be publicly released as it "may involve sensitive security information related to the building architecture."

Prior to this, some footage was only available by appointment to members of the media, criminal defendants, and a limited number of other people.

Trump celebrated the move in a Truth Social post at the time, writing: "Congratulations to Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson for having the Courage and Fortitude to release all of the J6 Tapes, which will explicitly reveal what really happened on January 6th!"

An investigation into January 6 by a House Select Committee, which published an 845-page report in December 2022, held Trump personally responsible for the disorder and recommended he face criminal charges. Its summary said: "The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him."