WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s reinvestigation of the House select committee probe of Jan. 6 is out with some initial findings that focus largely on himself.
Loudermilk, who is chairman of the House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee, announced Tuesday that a review of Jan. 6 committee documents, including letters and subpoenas, as well as security footage the panel obtained confirmed what he has said all along: There was nothing improper about tours he gave on Jan. 5, 2021, the day before the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Loudermilk’s subcommittee is tasked with reviewing the select committee’s work to determine whether the initial investigation was mishandled. He also said he will be reviewing the breach itself to determine whether there are security failures that need to be addressed.
In this initial set of findings, Loudermilk did not present significant new evidence. Still, the Cassville Republican said it confirms what he and other Republicans have long expressed about biases they feel the select committee showed in how it presented findings through a series of public hearings and a lengthy final report.
“There’s a lot of other details that when you go and you look at the evidence where they cherry-picked pieces of video,” Loudermilk said. “If you just saw the entire video, I don’t think anybody would have had any question.”
At least two of the men whom Loudermilk gave tours to on Jan. 5 participated in Donald Trump’s rally on Jan. 6 that preceded the riot. However, neither is accused of participating in the Capitol breach. Both were interviewed by Jan. 6 committee investigators in spring 2022.
Democrats on Tuesday pushed back on Loudermilk’s assertion that the investigation of Jan. 6 was flawed or too partisan. They accused him of attempting to reshape the narrative around the Capitol breach.
The ranking Democrat on the oversight subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Norma Torres of California, released a statement criticizing the direction of the reinvestigation. She said she and the other Democrat on the subcommittee were not advised that findings would be released Tuesday, let alone allowed to provide input.
“We have not held any meetings, public or private, to discuss this process,” she said in a news release. “Republicans have repeatedly ignored the security concerns of these actions, instead joining conspiracy theorists like Tucker Carlson to tell lies about the events of Jan. 6.”
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