Shortly after replacing disgraced and ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Mike Johnson agreed to make good with the base and release the J6 footage from Capitol security cameras that the Capitol police have kept under wraps, with some limited exceptions.

Johnson’s release of the J6 footage has done a great deal to re-introduce Americans to the falsity of the official narrative of January 6th. The latest release includes footage of Capitol police firing “flash bangs” unnecessarily at the crowd, as well as police opening doors and the behavior of protestors inside the Capitol that fails to conform to any definition of “terrorism.” As a matter of reinforcing public awareness, such footage is important. For serious researchers of January 6, and for those fortunate enough to have been ahead of the curve by reading Revolver, such information is nothing new. Indeed, we already knew that the Capitol Police opened the doors to the crowds in many cases and that the Capitol Police engaged in egregious acts of unnecessary provocation of the crowd. What Revolver and other researchers are principally interested in is whether and how the newly available footage might advance our understanding of federal involvement in January 6 and help us to piece together identities and networks of informants and agents on the ground that day. Unfortunately, such discoveries are made nearly impossible by the fact that Johnson’s team has decided to selectively blur the faces of some January 6 participants and to simply cut out large swathes of surveillance footage in other cases.

January 6 researcher (and defendant) “Free State Will” laid out the problems with Speaker Mike Johnson’s tapes in two detailed, mega-viral threads on Twitter.

Free State Will points out that Capitol cameras zeroed in on “tactical operations” trucks driving near the Capitol early on January 6 at approximately 3-4 in the morning:

Still more interesting, Will reports how the Capitol cameras had zeroed in on activity near the Peace Monument early in the morning between 4:30 and 5. Recall that the Peace Monument is the site of the first and decisive initial breach of the Capitol perimeter—the breach that Ray Epps and the curious host of characters described in Revolver’s now-classic series were involved in. Indeed, it is Revolver’s thesis that the Peace Monument was something of a meeting point for the fed provocateurs, many of whom were pre-positioned in that area well before Trump finished his speech nearly 20 minutes away by foot.

 

More bizarre activity at the Peace Circle:

Still more bizarre activity:

The most troubling issue with the released footage is that it is selectively blurred.

 

It would be one thing if all faces captured were blurred—far from ideal, but could be explained by some default decision to blur out of a misguided effort perhaps to protect participants from prosecution (the fact is the authorities have the same footage and they will prosecute whomever they wish). The fact that the images are selectively blurred is not necessarily sinister, but it is strange and requires some explanation. Speaker Mike Johnson is not an expert on January 6th, nor are his staffers. The question then arises as to who is making the decision regarding blurring the videos and what is the rationale behind those decisions.

Revolver will continue to follow this with interest.