Trump Praises Mike Johnson for Having the ‘Courage and Fortitude’ to Release ‘J6 Tapes’: Will Reveal ‘What Really Happened’

Isaac SchorrNov 21st, 2023, 4:10 pm
 

Former President Donald Trump praised Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for releasing the the full collection of tapes from the January 6 Capitol riot in a video promoted by his presidential campaign on Tuesday, declaring that Johnson had shown “courage and fortitude.”

“Congratulations to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for having the courage and fortitude to release all of the J6 tapes, which will reveal completely what really happened on January 6. Thank you very much, Mike — great job,” said Trump.

“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,” said Johnson on Friday after announcing his intention to release the tapes in batches over the coming months.

Johnson’s predecessor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), had balked at releasing the footage to the public, but did give former Fox News host Tucker Carlson access to the footage in February, when Carlson was still employed by Fox.

Carlson shared clips from the footage on his show in March, declaring, “Taken as a whole, the video record does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim. And that’s exactly why the Democratic Party and its allies in the media prevented you from seeing it.”

The attempt to rewrite the events of January 6 as a benign protest has been contradicted by many eyewitnesses, hours of footage, and the arguments of federal prosecutors — all of which suggest that Carlson’s selective airing and editing of the footage presented a whitewashed, misleading picture of the riot.

Johnson eagerly embraced the conspiracy theories promoted by Trump that led to events of January 6, helping organize an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit to invalidate the results of the election in several swing states as well as arguing that “the software system” used by Dominion Voting Systems “came from Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela.”

“The allegations about these voting machines, some of them being rigged with this software by Dominion. Look, there’s a lot of merit to that. And when the president says the election is rigged, that’s what he’s talking about,” remarked Johnson in November 2020.

Johnson endorsed Trump’s bid to reprise his role atop the executive branch last week.

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