Information favorable to former President Trump’s actions in relation to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot is just now coming to light.
From the start, Trump and White House officials claimed that the administration requested National Guard troops to protect the Capitol when the electoral vote was counted and certified by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
But the members of the since-disbanded Jan. 6 Select Committee, including former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, maintained that they found "no evidence" to support those claims.
The Federalist revealed Friday that Cheney’s claims were not only false, but that committee members actually suppressed evidence that the Trump White House made the request, and that Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser turned it down.
Committee investigators interviewed Deputy Chief of Staff and career Secret Service official Anthony Ornato on Jan. 28, 2022.
He testified that he overheard then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows request Bowser’s approve to deploy as many as 10,000 National Guard troops.
Cheney was present at and participated in that interview, the transcript of which was suppressed from the public.
"The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato’s critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative," said Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and chairman of the U.S. House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight.
"Mr. Ornato’s testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along: President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down," he added.
Loudermilk got his first hint in August that the committee’s findings and conclusions couldn’t be trusted, when he reported that it had failed to adequately preserve the evidence it received during the course of its investigation.
"We've got lots of depositions, we've got lots of subpoenas, we've got video and other documents provided through subpoenas by individuals.
"But we're not seeing anything from the Blue Team as far as reports on the investigation they did looking into the actual breach itself," he said.
The Jan. 6 Committee "Blue Team" was specifically tasked with investigating security failures at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
"What we also realized we didn't have was the videos of all the depositions," Loudermilk added.
Loudermilk reported in December that videotapes of committee interviews and depositions were actually missing.
"All of the videotapes of all depositions are gone," he told Just the News.
"We found out about this early in the investigation when I received a call from someone who was looking for some information off one of the videotapes, and we started searching, and we had none," Loudermilk explained.
"I wrote a letter to [Jan. 6 committee Chair] Bennie Thompson asking for them. And he confirmed that they did not preserve those [tapes]. He didn't feel that they had to."
But in truth the public should have known the committee’s findings and conclusions couldn’t be trusted when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi formed the committee.
The California Democrat refused to seat two Republican appointees to the committee: Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Jim Banks, R-Ind., — both strong Trump supporters.
The resolution establishing the committee gave Pelosi veto power over the Republican nominees.
Following that, then-House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pulled all names he’d submitted, and Pelosi made her own GOP selections: Cheney of Wyoming and then-Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., — both of whom are "never-Trumpers."
From that point forward the Jan. 6 Committee was considered by many observers to be little more than a Star Chamber, where the findings are pre-determined.
"History is written by the victors," is a quote often attributed to Winston Churchill, and for a couple years after the Jan. 6 riot, the Democratic Party was victorious in leading the House.
They attempted to use that position to write the history of Jan. 6, 2021 in a manner of their choosing rather than faithfully investigate and honestly report to the American people.
The incident offers one more reason that Republicans have to retain House leadership, take over the Senate, and secure the White House on Nov. 5.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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