Western Reader
In a surprising development, the House Select Committee that investigated the events of January 6, 2021, has been accused of not preserving important documents, data, and video depositions. This includes critical communications with the Biden White House, which are reportedly missing. The claims were made by a Republican lawmaker overseeing the GOP investigation into the committee’s work.
The committee, known as the “J6” committee, was primarily led by Democrats and included only two GOP members.
It has faced criticism for not presenting any evidence that it investigated the security failures at the Capitol on the day of the riot. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Committee on House Administration, expressed his concerns to Fox News Digital. He lamented the lack of organization in the provided data, stating, “Nothing was indexed. There was no table of contents index. We just got raw data.”
🚨🚨🚨 TRUMP HAS JAN 6TH SUBPOENA POWER, AND PRESTO THE EVIDENCE HAS BEEN DESTROYED…
— 🌟🇺🇸Nancy Hamm🇺🇸🌟 (@nancy_hamm1) August 10, 2023
Loudermilk further revealed that the “Blue Team,” which was supposed to investigate security lapses, was abruptly “shut down.” He suggested this was because the committee intended to blame former President Trump, who has since been indicted for allegedly inciting the demonstration.
The House Select Committee, officially known as the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, was convened by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) under chairman Rep. Benny Thompson (D-MS). The committee was supposed to consist of eight Democrats and five Republicans. However, Pelosi rejected two Republican nominees, leading to McCarthy withdrawing all of the Republican nominees. Instead, Pelosi handpicked two anti-Trump Republicans.
Jan 6th footage resurfaces showing “Violent Trump Thugs” being very peaceful ushered out of the house chamber like school children!
pic.twitter.com/nTbBOMkA0p— Trump Girl 🇺🇲🦅🇺🇲 (@MAGA__Patriot) August 10, 2023
The committee, which had a large staff of lawyers and spent millions of dollars, conducted over 1,000 interviews with witnesses who testified, usually under oath, in closed-door depositions. However, only a few of these witnesses were called to testify publicly at hearings, which were scripted with committee members reading from teleprompters. Videos and transcripts were created, but only a few clips were shown to the public, and only a few transcripts were released.
In a letter to Loudermilk, Thompson admitted that the committee had not preserved what he called “temporary” materials, including videos and transcripts that were not used in public hearings or official publications of the committee. This resulted in the destruction of raw evidence that the committee’s professional lawyers had spent months and millions to collect.
This act of destroying records seems to be an attempt to obstruct future Republican investigations into the committee’s work. It also effectively denied former President Trump access to evidence that could potentially help his defense in the criminal prosecutions that the committee itself had urged the Department of Justice to initiate. Furthermore, it prevented other witnesses from clearing their names.
The January 6 Committee disregarded a demand made last year by incoming Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to preserve all its records, evidence, and transcripts. Much of what it collected over more than a year of investigation has been destroyed. This raises serious questions about the transparency and integrity of the committee’s work.
This article appeared in The Record Daily and has been published here with permission.
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