A new report claims that just days before the Republican Party took control of the House of Representatives in 2022, more than 100 encrypted files related to the January 6 Capitol riot investigation were mysteriously deleted.
In a new interview with Fox news, The chairman of the House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee, Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, described the revelation as a way to move the investigation into a “new phase.”
Loudermilk claims a forensics team discovered that 117 files were deleted or encrypted on January 1, 2023, shortly before Republicans took over the investigation previously led by Rep. Bennie Thompson and Rep. Liz Cheney.
The congressman demands that the Democrats hand over the passwords, as the files have now been restored. The files are believed to contain interviews and statements that could be crucial to the case.
“It’s clear that they went to great lengths to prevent Americans from seeing certain documents produced during their investigation. It also appears that Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney intended to hinder our subcommittee by failing to preserve critical information and videos as required by House Rules,” Loudermilk said. said.
The chairman of the investigation, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, said the files have been recovered and he is demanding that Rep. Bennie Thompson and Rep. Liz Cheney hand over the passwords
Rep. Barry Loudermilk said investigation into ‘what really happened’ that day is growing thanks to support from new House Speaker Mike Johnson
The former senator said the investigation into “what really happened that day” is growing thanks to support from new House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is pouring more taxpayer money into the investigation.
“The speaker has deployed all the resources we need to move forward, essentially tripling the size of our staff,” he said.
The riot, which began after former President Donald Trump called on his supporters to try to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election, was responsible for the deaths of nine people, left dozens injured and has so far charged 1,200 people .
“We are investigating what really happened on January 6 and how did these people – whoever they were – get into the Capitol? What was the security issue?’” Loudermilk told Fox News.
“Because the American people have a right to know what happened. My main goal is to get the truth out and give the American people the opportunity to make their own decision about this based on facts – not preconceived ideas or predetermined stories – but just the facts of what happened, he added.
The Georgia conservative accused the Democratic investigation into the riot of “proving something they wanted to be the truth.”
He went on to say that the liberal evidence was “the icing on the cake” and left out things that contradicted their story.
‘Look, I’m not here to prove anyone right. But we want the truth to prevail,” Loudermilk said.
Loudermilk said his investigation will focus on security failures on the days that included the erection of a gallows by Trump supporters, something used in the Biden campaign.
‘He uses images of the gallows being erected, which is something we have investigated. It was raised at six in the morning. How on earth could he stand all day? Is it with the Capitol Police there? That is something that on its face, someone should have removed,” Loudermilk said.
“We know there was sufficient information that there was going to be an attack on the Capitol. So the secret service knew about it. The FBI knew about it. The Ministry of Defense had intelligence. Homeland Security had intelligence. That information was sent to the Capitol Police Intelligence Division but was never passed on. The chief didn’t know anything about it,” he continued.
Loudermilk said intelligence indicated federal agents were in the crowd, which is common at large gatherings.
Authorities are still working to identify more than 80 people wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol and to find out who planted pipe bombs outside the offices of the Republican and Democratic National Committees the day before the attack on the Capitol.
And they continue to make new arrests regularly, even as some Jan. 6 defendants are released from prison after serving their sentences.
The cases are unfolding in the same courthouse where Trump will stand trial in March in the case accusing the former president of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in the lead-up to the attack on the Capitol.
“The Department of Justice will hold all perpetrators of January 6 accountable to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the attack on our democracy,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said earlier this month.
He said the cases filed by Graves and the special counsel in Trump’s federal case, Jack Smith, demonstrate that the department “adheres to long-standing standards to ensure the independence and integrity of our investigations.”