The Jan. 6 select committee is seeking the cooperation of Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) to gain insight into a tour group the lawmaker led in the Capitol the day before the 2021 riot.
The committee requested Loudermilk provide more information on a tour he led on Jan. 5, 2021, which it suspects may have included people engaged in reconnaissance of the Capitol complex ahead of the riot the following day.
JAN. 6 COMMITTEE NOT COOPERATING WITH DOJ REQUEST FOR INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS
“We write to seek your voluntary cooperation in advancing our investigation,” the Thursday letter said. “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.”
Loudermilk denied that the tour group had any connection to the riot shortly after the committee’s letter became public.
“A constituent family with young children meeting with their Member of Congress in the House Office Buildings is not a suspicious group or ‘reconnaissance tour,’” he said in a joint statement with Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL). “The family never entered the Capitol building.”
Here’s what Rep. Loudermilk and House Administration Ranking Member Rodney Davis say in response to the 1/6 committee’s request of Loudermilk to testify – they say Loudermilk met with a “constituent family” pic.twitter.com/o6LC9TC4gh
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) May 19, 2022
The letter said the committee’s evidence contradicted a report from the Republicans on the House Committee on Administration, of which Loudermilk is a member. The Administration Committee’s GOP members sent a letter to the Capitol Police Board after reviewing security footage, reporting that “there were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on” that may have been scouting the building for the next day’s break-in.
“However, the Select Committee’s review of evidence directly contradicts that denial,” the letter said.
Davis, the ranking member of the Administration Committee, said in the February letter that Democratic concerns about “reconnaissance tours” were groundless.
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“We have reviewed the security footage from the Capitol Complex during the relevant period preceding January 6, 2021, and we know it does not support these repeated Democrat accusations about so-called ‘reconnaissance’ tours,” he wrote.
The Jan. 6 committee said it hopes to have a discussion with Loudermilk before the end of the month. It subpoenaed five GOP members of Congress last week, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who all refused to appear voluntarily. They have not said if they will comply with the subpoenas.
