The House committee investigating the Capitol riot has added another Republican member of Congress to the list of such individuals they’re targeting in hopes of obtaining information. On Thursday, the committee revealed a request for information from Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) in connection to a tour he apparently led through the Capitol complex the day before the riot.
“We write to seek your voluntary cooperation in advancing our investigation,” panel leaders Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote to Loudermilk on Thursday. “Based on our review of evidence in the Select Committee’s possession, we believe you have information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021. The foregoing information raises questions to which the Select Committee must seek answers. Public reporting and witness accounts indicate some individuals and groups engaged in efforts to gather information about the layout of the U.S. Capitol, as well as the House and Senate office buildings, in advance of January 6, 2021. For example, in the week following January 6th, Members urged law enforcement leaders to investigate sightings of “outside groups in the complex” on January 5th that “appeared to be associated with the rally at the White House the following day.””
New: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on prospect of retaliatory subpoenas to Dems should Republicans take House majority in 2022: “I’m not afraid of precedent. We’re seeking the truth. And we’re not going to be cowards like they are.”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) May 13, 2022
The committee has yet to see much success in its attempts to obtain relevant info from Republicans in Congress, although it’s only recently that panel investigators subpoenaed prominent Republicans including House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio). Besides their other relevant connections, both McCarthy and Jordan spoke with then-President Trump on the day the riot took place. They refused to voluntarily cooperate when previously asked for information by the committee, but they didn’t immediately reveal whether they’d comply with the committee’s subpoenas. Last week, journalist Hugo Lowell explained the following: “Sources on Jan. 6 committee tell me they see the subpoenas as win-win — If Republicans comply, they get the cooperation. If Republicans refuse, then Democrats can also refuse if they get subpoenaed. The committee is not worried about enforcement thru courts!”
NEW: Sources on Jan. 6 committee tell me they see the subpoenas as win-win — If Republicans comply, they get the cooperation. If Republicans refuse, then Democrats can also refuse if they get subpoenaed. The committee is not worried about enforcement thru courts!
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) May 12, 2022
Who exactly might have been on the pre-riot tour Loudermilk apparently led through the Capitol complex is unclear based only on the letter to him from committee leaders. Although there’s no apparent indication of a connection, it’s worth separately noting that three members of the Oath Keepers militia group have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy in connection to their actions around the Capitol riot. In short, they prepared for violence, including through the obtaining and subsequent stockpiling of weapons in the D.C. area. The hope among Oath Keepers seems to have been for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, which lets presidents call up militias — a possibility that Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes seems to have spoken about with someone close to then-President Trump. “The American people deserve a full and accurate accounting of what happened on January 6th. We aim to make informed legislative recommendations taking account of all relevant facts,” Cheney and Thompson told Loudermilk.
The Select Committee has requested that Representative Barry Loudermilk provide information for the committee’s investigation.
The Select Committee has discovered evidence that Rep Loudermilk may have info regarding a tour through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021. pic.twitter.com/dm6HtRp1Y9
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) May 19, 2022