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One U.S. Congressman led a tour of the United States Capitol on January 5, 2021, the day before the January 6 insurrection when thousands of Trump-supporting MAGA activists, including many with weapons, breached the building that is the center of American democracy.
Representative Barry Loudermilk, Republican of Georgia, was caught in video surveillance footage leading a tour Jan. 5, according to a letter sent to him by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
The Select Committee has requested that Representative Barry Loudermilk provide information for the committee’s investigation.
The Select Committee has discovered evidence that Rep Loudermilk may have info regarding a tour through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021. pic.twitter.com/dm6HtRp1Y9
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) May 19, 2022
“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,” the letter from Chairman Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney reads.
Loudermilk’s leading a tour is not in itself illegal, but it is complicated by several factors.
First, Loudermilk sits on a committee that point-blank told the House Select Committee no one led any tours on January 5.
“Republicans on the Committee on House Administration—of which you are a Member—claimed to have reviewed security footage from the days preceding January 6th and determined that ‘[t]here were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on,’” the Jan. 6 Committee tells Loudermilk. “However, the Select Committee’s review of evidence directly contradicts that denial.”
In fact, as attorney Luppe B. Lupen notes, Loudermilk himself filed an ethics complaint against U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) – who is a former federal prosecutor and former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot – urging the Ethics Committee to investigate her and 33 Democrats for claiming “without evidence” there were reconnaissance tours conducted.
Just over a year ago, Loudermilk himself filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Sherrill for making a similar allegation, and put out this statement. https://t.co/fWABJ2TY1K pic.twitter.com/aK3n09RuPw
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 19, 2022
If the evidence bears out the allegation that Loudermilk truly led a tour that fits this description—what he calls an “accusation of treason”—this ethics committee gambit will go down in the all time chutzpah hall of fame. pic.twitter.com/o7wa0zRotS
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 19, 2022
Second, Loudermilk was one of the Republicans texting White House chief of staff Mark Meadows during the insurrection. CNN published this transcript:
Rep. Barry Loudermilk to Mark Meadows
It’s really bad up here on the hill.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk to Mark Meadows
They have breached the Capitol.
Mark Meadows to Rep. Barry Loudermilk
POTUS is engaging
Rep. Barry Loudermilk to Mark Meadows
Thanks. This doesn’t help our cause.
Third, Loudermilk has run interference for Donald Trump numerous times.
“He didn’t have anything to do with January 6. I think that’s a far-fetched idea,” Loudermilk said last year, causing Esquire magazine to literally ask if the Georgia Congressman was “insane.”
One year earlier Loudermilk “criticised the process of impeachment and drew a comparison between the current inquiry into President Donald Trump to the trial of Jesus,” the BBC reported.
Political scientist Norman Ornstein weighs in:
I have spent countless hours over five decades in the Capitol. I have been in the hideaway offices of leaders of both parties– unmarked offices one could never find without advance knowledge. The violent insurrectionists knew. How? Ask Barry Loudermilk, MTG and other GOP members
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) May 19, 2022
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