The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, unrest at the Capitol requested that Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., voluntarily appear before its investigators, believing the Georgia Republican might have special insight about reconnaissance tours in the building that apparently occurred the previous day on Jan. 5, 2021.
In its letter to Loudermilk, the panel wrote:
"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.
"Public reporting and witness accounts indicate some individuals and groups engaged in efforts to gather information about the layout of the U.S. Capitol, as well as the House and Senate office buildings, in advance of January 6, 2021."
The letter does not implicate Loudermilk or establish him as a person of interest.
However, it did note Loudermilk's previous involvement with the House Committee on Administration, which reportedly urged for the "release of Capitol Police footage of the Capitol's tunnels and entrances and exits on Jan. 5."
According to The Hill, a February letter to the Capitol Police Board indicated that surveillance videos from Jan. 5, 2021, showed "no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on."
However, the "Select Committee's review of evidence directly contradicts that denial," said the panel in its letter to Loudermilk.
The Loudermilk request comes shortly after the House committee subpoenaed five Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
The other subpoenas went to Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Scott Perry, R-Pa., Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Mo Brooks, R-Ala.
The panel has reportedly interviewed nearly 1,000 witnesses and collected more than 100,000 documents on the events of Jan. 6.
However, the House committee has already determined that former President Donald Trump likely won't be called to testify.
The nine-member Jan. 6 panel is comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans; both GOP members — Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. — have been Trump critics.
The House committee doesn't have formal judicial power, Jan. 6 panel chair Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., recently told The Washington Post.
"We're not a criminal body — we are just looking for the facts and circumstances around Jan. 6, but in the course of that review, there are some very troubling things that we've come upon that we think if [the DOJ] would take a look at it, there would be something there," he said.
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