Soon, all Americans will be able to view the entire footage of the riot at the U.S. Capitol building that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021. House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Friday that he would be releasing the J6 footage in all of its totality to the public.

The move could mark a significant shift in the ongoing discourse and narratives surrounding the events of that day. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Johnson made the announcement.

"Today, I am keeping my promise to the American people and making all the January 6th tapes available to ALL Americans."

Today, I am keeping my promise to the American people and making all the January 6th tapes available to ALL Americans.

— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) November 17, 2023

Fox News reporter Chad Pergram posted a thread on X in which he highlighted remarks Johnson made about his announcement.

1) Johnson: When I ran for Speaker, I promised to make accessible to the American people the 44,000 hours of video from Capitol Hill security taken on January 6, 2021. Truth and transparency are critical.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 17, 2023

Johnson explained that Congress “will begin immediately posting video on a public website and move as quickly as possible to add to the website nearly all of the footage” and that “a public viewing room will ensure that every citizen can view every minute of the videos uncensored.”

He also laid out the reasoning for releasing the footage:

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.

The speaker noted that the faces of private citizens on “the yet unreleased tapes” will be blurred “to avoid any persons from being targeted for retaliation of any kind.”

When he was first elected as speaker, Johnson promised to release all of the footage, some of which had been released to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson earlier this year.

Democrats vigorously opposed releasing the footage. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) argued in February that allowing the public to see the footage “would compromise the safety of the Legislative Branch.”

Giving someone as disingenuous as Tucker Carlson exclusive access to this type of sensitive information is a grave mistake by Speaker McCarthy that will only embolden supporters of the Big Lie and weaken faith in our democracy. pic.twitter.com/jeZhMTQzch

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 22, 2023

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) also complained about allowing Carlson to have some of the footage.

Jeffries said in a letter to his Democratic colleagues in the House that officials are trying to confirm the “precise nature” of the transfer of videos from the attack.

“The apparent transfer of video footage represents an egregious security breach that endangers the hardworking women and men of the United States Capitol Police, who valiantly defended our democracy with their lives at risk on that fateful day,” he said.

This could be a pivotal moment in that people will finally be able to see everything that happened on that day. It could either support or debunk various narratives that have been disseminated since the riot occurred, which is likely the reason why Democrats do not want the public to see it.