The public release of the January 6th tapes by Speaker Mike Johnson has caused a lot of consternation among Democrats. For her part, Liz Cheney had a minor meltdown, furiously posting a video of protesters fighting with police in response. In doing so, she revealed her deeply dishonest desire to present only one narrative about what transpired, ignoring the fact that hundreds of people were not violent and had no intention to break the law.

As to what has come of the tapes being released, the answer is not much. Everyone's priors were already confirmed long ago regarding anything to do with January 6th. Still, transparency is always worth the effort. Whether or not a single person's mind was changed, letting people decide for themselves was the right call. 

With all that said, Johnson made a comment on Tuesday regarding the tapes that is producing a lot of confusion and speculation.

BREAKING - Speaker Mike Johnson says to blur out people’s faces on J6 tapes: "As you know, 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." pic.twitter.com/NpVH2U6UQX

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) December 5, 2023

There are a few possibilities here, with the one gaining the most traction on social media being that Johnson is covering up for federal agents. Does that hold water, though? 

On the surface, Johnson's stipulation of blurring faces doesn't seem to make sense regarding the DOJ not charging people, which is something he specifically mentions. After all, the DOJ already has full access to the tapes and has had that for years. If they want to find and charge someone, they are going to do that, and no amount of blurring faces on footage they've already had uncensored access to is going to change that. 

With that said, I'd suggest Republicans not automatically jump to the worst possible explanation. Johnson has shown himself to be an honest broker, and I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt here. Why would he put his reputation and political career on the line in an attempt to protect Liz Cheney's narrative about January 6th? That just doesn't make much sense.

So what's the real reason Johnson is having faces blurred? I think his mention of being "retaliated against" provides a clue. There are organizations, including one called "Sedition Hunters," that spend all of their time trying to identify people in the January 6th tapes so they can both turn them in to the DOJ and try to get them fired from their jobs. While the DOJ has unfettered access, it's unlikely they've got the manpower to comb through 40,000 hours of tape and identify every single person. A massive network of online snitches doing that work for them might be able to, though, and that's where "Sedition Hunters" and other groups come in.

What's the best evidence that Johnson's comment was actually regarding that and not protecting the FBI? The fact that "Sedition Hunters" got really upset about it. 

Lets be very clear, the DOJ already has access to the #J6 footage. Blurring the faces of those committing a crime benefits only those trying to cover up a crime! https://t.co/ibOFG9aLLI

— SeditionHunters (@SeditionHunters) December 5, 2023

People are welcome to speculate, but I think that post provides pretty firm proof that Johnson isn't trying to cover for government actors who were embedded in the crowd and stirred up the riot. He's trying to stop dumpster-diving organizations like the one above from retaliating against grandmas who walked around and took selfies. That's a good decision.