Riot panel seeks info on Capitol tour Jan. 5

WASHINGTON — The congressional committee investigating the U.S. Capitol insurrection is asking a House Republican for more information about a tour of the building the panel says he led the day before the deadly attack.

The committee’s letter to Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk on Thursday is the latest attempt by House investigators to obtain cooperation from GOP lawmakers in the probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Supporters of then-President Donald Trump violently broke into the Capitol that day and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

“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,” wrote Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Liz Cheney R-Wyo., the chairman and vice-chairwoman of the committee.

“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 the insurrection, they wrote.

The voluntary request comes after the panel conducted more than 1,000 interviews about the insurrection and as it prepares for a series of hearings in June.

The letter to Loudermilk said that Republicans on a separate panel, the House Administration Committee, had previously said they reviewed security footage from Jan. 5 and said there were “no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.” Loudermilk is a member of that panel.

But the Jan. 6 committee’s review of the evidence “directly contradicts that denial,” Thompson and Cheney wrote.

In a statement Thursday, Loudermilk said the Jan. 5 tour was with a constituent family and took place in the House office buildings and not inside the Capitol building.

“We call on Capitol Police to release the tapes,” Loudermilk and Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., the ranking member of the House administration committee, wrote in a joint response to the letter.

MORE CONTENT Read the letter sent to Loudermilk arkansasonline.com/520loudermilk/