House Republicans released a report claiming the Jan. 6 select committee "deleted" records and hired "Hollywood producers" to promote a political narrative while investigating the circumstances surrounding supporters of former President Donald Trump breaching the Capitol in 2021.
"For nearly two years, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's January 6th Select Committee promoted hearsay and cherry-picked information to promote its political goal – to legislatively prosecute former President Donald Trump," Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight, said in a statement accompanied by his "Initial Findings Report" on Monday.
"It was no surprise that the Select Committee’s final report focused primarily on former President Trump and his supporters, not the security failures and reforms needed to ensure the United States Capitol is safer today than in 2021."'
Loudermilk's oversight subcommittee of the House Administration Committee released an 81-page report Monday that investigated "the security failures of January 6th which House Democrats failed to investigate in the 117th Congress."
Among its key findings, the report stated that the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol was designed "to promote a political narrative" reportedly at the direction of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
"Pelosi made the unprecedented decision to refuse to appoint minority members chosen by the minority to the Select Committee. They hired Hollywood producers to assist with their primetime hearings. They refused to adopt rules, allowing them to operate without limits, to project their predetermined narrative to the world," the report’s key findings page states.
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Within the report, it details that the Jan. 6 committee "enlisted the help of Hollywood producers to edit USCP closed circuit television ("CCTV") footage, as well as videos of depositions and transcribed interviews, for use at public hearings."
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The Jan. 6 committee was founded in July 2021 to investigate the breach of the U.S. Capitol earlier that year by supporters of Trump ahead of President Biden officially taking office on Jan. 20. The Jan. 6 committee’s investigation was carried out when Democrats held control of the House.
The committee concluded its 18-month investigation last year, when Republicans regained control of the House, and sent referrals to the Justice Department recommending Trump be criminally prosecuted for his involvement in the lead-up to supporters breaching the Capitol.
The committee was composed of seven Democrats and two Republican lawmakers, Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, both of whom are no longer in office. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chaired the committee, while Cheney served as vice chair.
Loudermilk’s report argued that Cheney’s position was reserved for a Democrat, and that she should not have served as vice chair.
"Cheney was not the minority ranking member but served as Vice Chair of the Select Committee – a position under House Rules for a member of the same party as the Chair. Pelosi appointed Cheney to the Select Committee as one of Pelosi’s eight majority appointments to the Select Committee. Former Select Committee staff members spoke out against Cheney’s insistence that the Select Committee focus on President Trump," the report’s key findings found.
Republicans have long claimed that the committee was improperly constructed, including in a court case in 2022, when a federal judge appointed by Trump validated the Jan. 6 committee's investigative pursuits, including allowing the committee to obtain Republican National Committee's marketing email data in the lead up to Jan. 6.
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Loudermilk's report also asserted that the committee "deleted records and hid evidence" ahead of Republicans taking the House majority during the 2022 election cycle.
"THE SELECT COMMITTEE DELETED RECORDS AND HID EVIDENCE - Reps. Thompson and Cheney failed to turn over video recordings of witness interviews and depositions despite using these recordings in their high-profile, primetime hearings. The Subcommittee recovered over one hundred deleted or password-protected files, including some files that were deleted days before Republicans took the majority. They also hid multiple transcribed interviews of witnesses who had firsthand knowledge of Trump‘s actions on January 6," the report found.
Trump has repeatedly claimed the committee deleted and destroyed evidence, including this year in a Truth Social post singling out Cheney.
"Why did American Disaster Liz Cheney … ILLEGALLY DELETE & DESTROY most of the evidence, and related items, from the January 6th Committee of Political Thugs and Misfits. THIS ACT OF EXTREME SABOTAGE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MY LAWYERS TO PROPERLY PREPARE FOR, AND PRESENT, A PROPER DEFENSE OF THEIR CLIENT, ME. All of the information on Crazy Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers that I offered to to [sic] guard the Capitol Building, and beyond, is gone," Trump posted on Truth Social on Jan. 1, 2024.
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Cheney responded to the report early on Tuesday morning on X, arguing the report works to "cover up" Trump's actions in 2021.
"If your response to Trump’s assault on our democracy is to lie & cover up what he did, attack the brave men & women who came forward with the truth, and defend the criminals who violently assaulted the Capitol, you need to rethink whose side you’re on. Hint: It’s not America’s," Cheney tweeted Tuesday.
Last week, Loudermilk’s office released transcripts of a "withheld" committee interview with a Trump administration official, White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato, that reportedly undermines the committee’s report that they did not have evidence showing the Trump White House requested National Guard assistance for Jan. 6.
Ahead of serving as White House deputy chief of staff, Ornato served decades in the Secret Service.
The interview, which was first reported by The Federalist, shows Ornato told the committee that he overheard then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows asking D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as much protection for the city as she needed for Jan. 6.
Cheney spokesperson Jeremy Adler told Fox News Digital on Sunday that The Federalist’s report is "flatly false."
"The Federalist report is flatly false. No transcripts were destroyed, and as this letter (which has long been public) describes in detail, the Committee adhered to its obligations to allow the Secret Service to protect sensitive security information for interviews of its agents before preserving that testimony in the archives," Adler said in a statement.
The 2022 letter, sent by Cheney and Thompson to the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, detailed that it adhered to rules surrounding sensitive testimony from Secret Service agents, and preserved such testimony in archives that were then placed into the control of the National Archives.
"Also, relevant content of the Secret Service transcripts was summarized in multiple places in the report… This is all a continuation of efforts to lie about and cover up Donald Trump’s culpability for January 6th," Adler added on Sunday.
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Among its other key findings, the Loudermilk report alleged that Thompson and Cheney "promoted" a "star" witness’ "sensational revised" testimony and "hid" other testimony that contradicted the star witness. The report also alleged that the Jan. 6 committee "colluded" with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to prosecute Trump in Georgia for alleged election racketeering.
"Fulton County District Attorney wrote to the Select Committee seeking assistance with her prosecution of President Trump. Select Committee staff met with representatives from her office," the initial findings report states.
Pelosi’s office declined comment Tuesday morning when contacted by Fox News Digital on Loudermilk’s report. Fox News Digital also reached out to Thompson's press secretary, but did not immediately receive a response.
Thompson did respond to the report in a statement published to his X account, calling the report "dishonest."
"Loudermilk is merely trying to deflect from Donald Trump's responsibility for the violence of January 6th and his own refusal to answer the Select Committee's questions," his statement added.
Loudermilk said in comments Monday that the report's release "is just the beginning" in his efforts to "uncover the facts about January 6."
"The American people deserve the entire truth about what caused the violent breach at the United States Capitol on January 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 January 6, without political bias or spin. My report today is just the beginning," Loudermilk said.
