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House Republicans have threatened to leak Capitol Police video captured on Jan. 5, 2021, to clear the reputation of a colleague accused of leading tours the day before the tragic incident, but they do not yet have the material.
Last Monday, the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, urged Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) to interview with its investigators voluntarily, claiming that they had watched film of the legislator showing guests around the Capitol.
The charge was a clear rebuke to Republicans on the House Administration Committee, of which Loudermilk is a member, who had long wanted the release of the tapes to disprove allegations that they conducted reconnaissance tours around the Capitol before to the attack.
However, carrying through their threat will entail a significant financial investment: the external hard drive they’ll need to store the hundreds of hours of footage may cost up to $20,000.
Ranking member Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) wrote to the Capitol Police Board on Friday, “Committee Minority staff have reviewed all footage in question and have established no ‘reconnaissance tours’ happened.”
“There is no other option for the Board to maintain its reputation as an unbiased security agency and re-establish itself as a non-partisan body except to release the tapes.” If the Board fails to produce the necessary film in a timely manner, I will be forced to use my authority under 2 USC 1979 to release the tape myself,” he added.
The video “does not corroborate these repeated Democrat charges about so-called’reconnaissance’ excursions,” the House Administration Committee wrote in a memo obtained by The Hill in February.
Despite a ban on tours due to COVID-19, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and other Democrats claimed they noticed an extraordinary amount of visitor activity in the Capitol on Jan. 5.
Even back in February, the committee decided to study film obtained from Capitol Police offices rather than pay the thousands of dollars required to get and keep it directly.
However, they may now be willing to invest the funds.
“Clearly things have changed,” a senior staffer to the committee told The Hill, “when one of our committee members is being accused of leading reconnaissance tours in the Capitol on Jan. 5 when we know for a fact the video tape shows otherwise.”
Last Monday, the Jan. 6 committee questioned its colleagues’ account of the tape, which showed “no tours, no huge groups, and no one wearing MAGA caps.”
In a letter to Loudermilk, Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote, “The Select Committee’s analysis of information obviously contradicts that denial.”
Following the letter, the House Administration Committee and Loudermilk issued a statement claiming that he was only giving a constituent family a tour of the Capitol, during which they did not enter the building.
The Hill was told by a committee aide that Loudermilk’s crew went through House office buildings but never into the chambers building.
When asked if he had a chance to speak with any of individuals involved in the demonstration, Loudermilk said he had “about a dozen folks up here” in an interview conducted on Jan. 6 as the attack was occurring.
Some of the tape from Jan. 6 has been disclosed and has been utilized in court proceedings, hearings by the Jan. 6 committee, and even in former President Trump’s second impeachment trial.
“They can’t not release it to us under that provision,” the senior aide told The Hill.
“Because it’s not classified, there are no restrictions on what the committee can do with it,” they continued.
