A CNN panel expressed astonishment on Wednesday after watching footage of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) saying that he wanted to protect the identities of people who violently stormed the United States Capitol building on January 6th, 2021.
After playing a clip of Johnson saying that Republican staffers were blurring out faces of Capitol rioters from video footage to shield them from "retaliation," panelist Lulu Garcia-Navarro argued that there was no ambiguity about where Johnson's sympathies stand.
"The significance is very clear," she said. "I mean, he's taking the side of these rioters in trying to protect their identities and I think it's deeply problematic and it shows that Speaker Johnson is not acting in a way that's really supportive to the Constitution and to the people who are actually worried about this."
CNN host Phil Mattingly then linked Johnson's apparent support for criminality to former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night gushing over infamous mob boss Al Capone, whom Trump described as "one of the greatest of all time if you like criminals."
Trump has also regularly praised the people who attacked the Capitol on his behalf and has pledged to pardon many of them should he win a second term.
Watch the video below or at this link.
Mike Johnson is 'taking the side' of Capitol rioterswww.youtube.com
