House Speaker Mike Johnson delivered unfavorable news to President Joe Biden as the 2024 presidential election gains momentum. In a Fox News interview, the Louisiana Republican stated that he thinks House Republicans possess sufficient votes to initiate an impeachment inquiry against Biden.
Host Pete Hegeseth asked: “We mentioned impeachment, which requires votes, and we mentioned that with Santos out, you have an even tighter margin. Do you have the votes formally to start an impeachment process?”
“Yeah, I believe we will. I suspect no Democrats will assist in this effort. But they should. The facts are so clear for everyone to see. Just a couple of numbers to remember: just real quick off the top, $15 million. We know that the Biden family received at least $15 million from foreign nationals and companies, including Ukraine, Russia, and China. Just between 2014 and 2019, at least 16 times on record, Joe Biden has lied about his involvement in the family’s business dealings and Hunter Biden’s business dealings,” Johnson said.
He added: “We know 22 times—at least 22 times—the president met with or talked with Hunter’s foreign business associates. And we have checks. We have checks written to Joe Biden that the Oversight Committee has found in the banking records: $40,000 from China and $200,000 from a now-bankrupt healthcare company that his brother James Biden swindled. But the evidence is so clear, you cannot look away. And the Constitution requires the House to follow the truth wherever it leads. We—we—have to do this. We cannot stop the process.”
Johnson reiterated his statements from last week, affirming that House Republicans intend to shield the identities of those who entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. This precaution is taken ahead of the release of additional security footage to protect them from potential repercussions by the Department of Justice, he explained.
“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, to be charged by the DOJ, and to have other concerns and problems,” Johnson said.
“We’re working steadily on it. And we’ve hired additional personnel to do that,” Johnson added. “And all of those tapes, ultimately at the end, will be out so everybody can see them.”
Johnson’s top ally then explained exactly why it was necessary to blur the video.
“Faces are to be blurred from public viewing room footage to prevent all forms of retaliation against private citizens from any non-governmental actors. The Department of Justice already has access to raw footage from January 6, 2021,” Deputy Chief for Communications Raj Shah tweeted.
The Hill reported: The House Administration Oversight Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), has led the effort to re-investigate Jan. 6 and the Democratic-controlled select committee that probed the attack—and particularly former President Trump’s role in it—in the last Congress.
Before the initial release of some footage, Johnson said last month that processing of the clips “will involve blurring the faces of private citizens on the yet-unreleased tapes to avoid any persons being targeted for retaliation of any kind.”
“I don’t think partisan elected officials in Washington should present a narrative and expect that it should be seen as the ultimate truth,” Johnson said of the Capitol riot.
“The release of the January 6 tapes is a critical exercise. We want transparency,” Johnson added. “House Republicans trust the American people to draw their conclusions.”
“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. Today, we 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, more than 40,000 hours,” Johnson noted further in an X post.
“In the meantime, a public viewing room will ensure that every citizen can view every minute of the videos uncensored,” he continued.
“I commend Chairman Loudermilk and his team for their diligent work to ensure the thousands of hours of videos are promptly processed to be uploaded to the committee’s public website,” Johnson noted further on the X platform.
“Processing will involve blurring the faces of private citizens on the yet-unreleased tapes to avoid any persons being targeted for retaliation of any kind and segregating an estimated 5% of the videos that may involve sensitive security information related to the building architecture,” he said.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who led the effort to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and has been behind the effort to get all of the video footage released, praised Johnson for his decision.
“You won’t always agree with @SpeakerJohnson – but know this: HE WON’T LIE. If he says he is going to do something, he is going to do it. Thank you for keeping your word on the J6 tapes, Mr. Speaker. It is a refreshing thing in the Swamp of DC,” he tweeted.
“Doing what he said he would do. Good,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, added on X.