“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, and to have other concerns and problems. So, that’s a slow process to get it done; we’re working steadily on it. We’ve hired additional personnel to do that But all of those tapes ultimately will be out so everybody can see them and draw their own conclusions.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, December 5, 2022
He then went on in his self-gratifying gloria Dei moment to say: “[This] 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.” One might add, for him, since he forgot to, that this will also obstruct the ability of investigators to identify suspects in the January 6th insurrection.
He also forgot to add, “This also violates federal law.”
Title 18 of the United States Code contains the laws regarding obstruction of justice within its 20 provisions. To protect documentary evidence, its §1501, subsection (c) reads:
(c) Whoever corruptly—
(1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or
(2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
Mike Johnson is so full of hubris and theocratic fervor that he doesn’t seem to recognize that federal law still exists. Like most MAGAites he believes that his actions are part of a revolution and therefore legal in, perhaps, God’s eyes. But Johnson and the insurrectionists of January 6th (and many others) do not understand that they need to WIN the political civil war we’re now waging to impose their laws on the nation. For now, they still must operate under the laws that exist, not the ones they plan.