Obstruction of justice is defined by Merriam-Webster as "the crime or act of willfully interfering with the process of justice and law especially by influencing, threatening, harming, or impeding a witness, potential witness, juror, or judicial or legal officer or by furnishing false information in or otherwise impeding an investigation or legal process.

One might imagine that altering real-time video of the January 6 insurrection in order to deter the DOJ from bringing charges against insurrectionists in the building might fit that definition, and is a crime committed against our democracy and the United States constitution. That's not something a Speaker of the House should do, am I right? After all, every one of those Representatives took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic" and "bear true faith and allegiance to the same."

Those January 6 rioters were there to stop the electoral vote count, also a violation of the Constitution. While many have been identified and prosecuted, many have not.

Here's what Mike Johnson told reporters about the release of all of the footage of January 6th, over 40,000 hours worth of video:

We trust the American people to draw their own conclusions.

We should not, they should not be dictated by some narrative and accept that as fact.

So they can review the tapes themselves.

We're going through a methodical process of releasing them as quickly as we can.

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.

Yes, you read (or heard) that right. The Speaker of the House is blurring faces in order to stop the DOJ from prosecuting them. I'm fairly sure that's called obstruction of justice.

Of course, this in no way placated the far right wingers, who are sure the reason the faces are being blurred is to protect the FBI, because they simply cannot accept responsibility for the insurrection they mounted with full support from Donald Trump and his associates. It's pathetic and laughable that the tapes are being released at all, much less with faces blurred so the DOJ won't go after them.

I have some news for Mike Johnson. The DOJ can look at whatever footage they want with no faces blurred out, and any attempt to stop that is also obstructing justice.

What a bad look for a lame speaker.

UPDATE:

UPDATE 2: Now they’re walking it back.