House Republicans, that is vowed to investigate Democrats if he takes back control of the House this year, now plans to investigate the select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots, CNN reported Wednesday. The plan reportedly includes conducting an investigation into Capitol security at the time of the attack and possibly how the January 6 defendants have been treated by the legal system.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), which the House appointed a committee to investigate the January 6 attack accused of led a demonstration at the Capitol the day before the riots, will lead the effort, according to NBC News.
“I spent some time there getting my hands on what we have. We’ll see what happened at the Capitol. What happened leading up to that? How did we end up with such a security failure?” Loudermilk told CNN. “The January 6 committee, they didn’t take that approach … I think it was more about politics.”
The House Committee on House Administration has opened a portal where individuals “with knowledge of events” can provide information about the insurrection and January 6 committee.
“My goal is to take us to where the reality is to get to the truth,” added Loudermilk in an interview with CNN.
A bipartisan House select committee has been investigating the Capitol riots and the events that led to them for a year and a half – holding a series of televised hearings and releasing an official report recommending that the Justice Department launch an investigation into the involvement of former President Donald Trump.
Contrary to Republican claims, the committee investigated security failures before the riots. A separate bipartisan investigation in the Senate also detailed “how failures of security, planning and response led to this violent and unprecedented breach at the United States Capitol” and recommended that similar breaches not occur in the future.
An uprising by Trump supporters, who marched to the Capitol after a rally where they claimed that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from them, sought to prevent a joint session of Congress from certifying the Electoral College count for Joe Biden. The riots left at least five people dead and injured at least 140 law enforcement officers. Charges have been filed against more than 1,000 rioters. The January 6 committee was able to call more than 100 individuals, interview more than 1,200 and collect a lot of documents and records in the process, NBC News reported.
Trump sued in an effort to prevent himself from providing documents and testimony, and the committee eventually ran out of time before disbanding in January of this year as the House’s new GOP majority was sworn in. dissolving, The New York Times reported.
News of the Republican investigation into investigatorscame the same week that Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson showed new footage of the Capitol riots on his show Monday, downplaying the violence of the attack. He had been given the record by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). McCarthy has defended the decision to give Carlson the length, saying he wanted to offer the public “transparency” so that people can make their own decisions about how the events of January 6 played out.
Other prominent Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have criticized Fox News’ handling of the tape.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), a member of the January 6 defunct committee, told CNN that they were prepared to investigate the Republicans.
“This is something we’ve been thinking about for the last two years. I know there are political consequences. … We’ll see what happens – and we’ll be ready,” Aguilar said. “There is no limit to what [McCarthy] will do to fulfill the most extreme promises of his caucus.”