Rep. Loudermilk's Mar. 11 report reveals the Select Committee amounted to little more than a highly politicized, costly investigation. The Mar. 11 report is a follow-up to two previous reports in 2021; one from a bipartisan committee in the Senate, the other from a Republican Congressional committee. Notably, there was no mention of President Trump in the stated mission of the J6 Select Committee. More importantly, the Select Committee failed to address its stated objectives, which were to review the activities of intelligence agencies and to investigate intergovernmental planning and response to protests that, in some cases, resulted in violence like the one on Jan. 6. Despite the stated mission to review security failures, "President Trump's name was still mentioned 1,901 times," according to Loudermilk.
It is now evident the Select Committee lied and hid critical exculpatory transcripts, all to orchestrate a prescribed and highly produced prime-time media narrative that was pushed out to the willing legacy press.
Loudermilk's Subcommittee found that the Select Committee was a committee "without rules," rejecting minority member appointments and no ranking member Vice Chair or Ranking Minority Member. Their taxpayer-funded budget well exceeded that of the Benghazi hearings, the only other committee in U.S. history to benefit from unlimited appropriations. According to Loudermilk, there were over 80 staffers paid to investigate, representing over $500,000 a month in salaries. The final report from the Select Committee led by Vice Chair Liz Cheney was released on Dec. 22, 2022. The Select Committee spent over $20 million compared to the $7 million in funds appropriated to the Benghazi hearings.
The American people deserve the entire truth about what caused the violent breach at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. It is unfortunate the Select Committee succumbed to their political inclinations and chased false narratives instead of providing the important work of a genuine investigation. In my committee's investigation, it is my objective to uncover the facts about Jan. 6 without political bias or spin. My report today is just the beginning."
Hidden Evidence, Deleted Material, and "Star Witness" Cassidy Hutchinson
One of the more recent revelations has to do with hidden testimony. While many, including UncoverDC, reported in March 2021 that Trump called for the National Guard two days before Jan. 6, Loudermilk revealed that the "J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato's critical witness testimony" because it did not fit the narrative being promoted by the Select Committee. Ornato, a former Secret Service officer, allegedly testified on three occasions, but the Select Committee failed to release his Jan. 22, 2022 testimony. Ornato confirmed in that testimony that Trump offered 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, proving what Mark Meadows and Kash Patel have said all along. Mayor Bowser allegedly refused the additional guardsmen. This evidence would have been exculpatory for the former President because it would have proven he intended to protect the Capitol, not incite an insurrection on Jan. 6.
The Select Committee also "selectively cite[d] unnamed White House employees" so that their testimony would fit their narrative. It is now known that White House Employee One testified that they did not recall President Trump expressing any intent to go to the Capitol. In fact, White House Employee One remembered that "upon learning of the riots at the Capitol, President Trump wanted to call General Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Speaker Pelosi." White House Employee One also "testified they never heard the President try to pressure the Vice President" that he had the authority to change the outcome of the 2020 election.
Oddly, all of Cassidy Hutchinson's interviews were published. An administrative person for the House team who reported directly to Mark Meadows, Hutchinson was a star witness for the J6 Select Committee. Parts of her testimony are now being debunked. Apparently, in contradiction to her testimony, Trump did not "attempt to grab the steering wheel" or "lunge at USSS Agent Bobby Engel," as stated by Hutchinson. The driver of President Trump's car refuted Hutchinson's testimony, and his transcript was also allegedly withheld. Another White House employee alleged the President was "irate" during his drive back to the White House. Notably, a great deal of testimony that directly contradicted Hutchinson's public testimony was never published.
In some cases, those who might contradict Hutchinson were never even interviewed. According to the Subcommittee report, the two USSS agents in Trump's car were never interviewed—while news outlets celebrated Hutchinson's testimony as a "damning inside account of Trump's actions" even though she admitted her claims "were not based on firsthand knowledge."
Hutchinson has flip-flopped on many of her statements found in her Feb. 23, 2022, and other early testimony. One of those flip-flops included whether weapons were present at the rally site. Hutchinson's February testimony indicates Hutchinson was not worried about "dangerous" weapons being present on Jan. 6. However, in her fourth testimony, Hutchinson claimed "there were knives, guns in the form of pistols and rifles, bear spray, body armor, spears, and flagpoles" in the crowd on Jan. 6. The fourth interview was allegedly "the only one conducted in Rep. Cheney's U.S. Capitol hideaway with only Rep. Cheney and one Select Committee staffer present." It was during this transcribed fourth interview (p. 6) that Hutchinson also claimed Trump tried to grab the steering wheel. She also claimed having "overheard a conversation where Meadows said President Trump thought Pence ought to be hanged." A Sept. 12, 2022, errata sheet submitted by Hutchinson shows she revised previous transcribed interviews to match "her new version of events."
The Select Committee knew well that "Hutchinson's testimony changed substantially over time to be more dramatic," according to the Loudermilk report:
"Hutchinson's sensational testimony provided the Select Committee exactly what it wanted: an explosive story that the Select Committee could use to attack President Trump. Without minority representation on the Select Committee, there was no cross-examination of Hutchinson's testimony or the testimony of other witnesses. The Select Committee was unified in its effort to prove a narrative, as is clear from its failure to rigorously question witnesses. In many ways, the Select Committee functioned as a federal prosecutor—determined to make a case against President Trump. However, there was no cross-examination of the witnesses put forward by the Select Committee, there was no due process, and there was no productive debate."
Loudermilk and his colleagues also found that many records were not transferred to the House Clerk after the new Republican majority was sworn in. The Select Committee allegedly failed to archive video recordings of witness interviews, amounting to more than one terabyte of digital data. As a result, the Subcommittee only received three terabytes of data. The unarchived data included "as many as 900 interview summaries or transcripts" and "over 100 deleted or encrypted documents." According to reporting from the New York Post, "A digital forensics team employed by the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight discovered the data deletion occurred on Jan. 1, 2023, and were able to recover the [117] password-protected files." Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) was responsible for archiving and transferring records at the time. He has admitted that not all of the files were archived. Thompson's failure to archive and transfer records violates House rules. It seems the Select Committee worked overtime to prevent critical information from being made public.
Subcommittee Finds Collusion with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis
One of the more stunning revelations in the Loudermilk Subcommittee report is that Fani Willis was allegedly granted access to "any Select Committee records relevant to her investigation" of President Trump. A letter dated Dec. 17, 2020, that is now in the hands of the Subcommittee allegedly proves Willis would have access to "recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel" relevant to Trump's challenging of the 2020 election. According to the report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Politico, the Select Committee provided Fulton County prosecutors with crucial evidence for the case. No additional communications between the Select Committee and Willis' office were archived. However, the report reminds the reader how ironic it is that video recordings of witnesses were allegedly shared with Fulton County but not with the Subcommittee. Loudermilk and his Subcommittee have opened an investigation into the "extent of the coordination between Willis and the Select Committee."Pipe Bombs and Fake Gallows
Despite the reports of pipe bombs at two locations, one near the DNC and the other outside the Capitol Hill Club near the RNC, the Select Committee spent little if any time investigating them, even though Vice President Harris was allegedly at the DNC on Jan. 6. The DOJ allegedly lied about Harris' whereabouts on J6, saying she was in the Capitol during the riot. CCTV video shows she left the building at 11:23 a.m., over an hour before the protests. It may be that Pence was also not in the Capitol but in an underground garage at the time. The whereabouts of Harris and Pence is an essential piece of information to get right because their presence forms the basis for a common misdemeanor 18 U.S.C. § 1752 given to J6ers—entering, remaining on restricted grounds. Harris and Pence are Secret Service protectees, which designates the Capitol as automatically "restricted," according to the DOJ.Oddly, the Select Committee report mentions the pipebombs "only five times in passing," according to Loudermilk's report. The devices were allegedly planted the night before. Through a review of USCP CCTV, USCP radio transcripts, and documents obtained in the Subcommittee investigation, evidence has now emerged showing apparent dangerous dereliction of duty on the part of law enforcement at the scenes of the pipe bombs. The investigation found that law enforcement personnel had failed to secure the perimeter or protect civilians in the area. In addition, the FBI allegedly confiscated all evidence, preventing further investigation. According to Loudermilk's investigation, three CCTV cameras were deliberately turned away from the scene. During a hearing conducted by Loudermilk on Tuesday morning, he stated there are still many unanswered questions about the pipe bombs. The FBI declined to participate in Tuesday's hearing. There are still no suspects in the pipe bomb cases.
Very little information has come forward concerning the replica of a gallows erected on the grounds of the Capitol early on Jan. 6. At around 6:25 a.m. on Jan. 6, several individuals appear on a camera with parts of the structure that would later become the gallows. Capitol Police Guidelines for Conducting an Event stipulate that temporary structures of this kind "may not be erected on Capitol Grounds." Even so, USCP CCTV footage shows the gallows structure was still present until 9:15 a.m. on Jan. 7. The Subcommittee combed through hours of recordings of USCP radio transmissions, and there was allegedly "no mention of the gallows throughout the whole day." One would think that as frequently as the press shared the iconic photo of the gallows and later by members of the Select Committee, the gallows would be of particular interest to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Republicans have been slow to release video footage of Jan. 6.
