Jan. 6 Committee Wants Info From Loudermilk About Alleged Capitol Tour

CARTERSVILLE, GA — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection wants to question U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk about a tour of the building it says he led the day before.

Loudermilk, a Bartow County Republican who represents Georgia’s 11th Congressional District, is believed to have “information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5,” according to a letter Thursday from Reps. Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney, chair and vice chair of the committee.

"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 the insurrection, they wrote.

The letter to Loudermilk is the latest attempt by House investigators to obtain cooperation from GOP lawmakers in the probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, Supporters of then-President Donald Trump violently broke into the Capitol that day and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden's electoral victory.

The request comes as the panel has already conducted more than 1,000 interviews about the insurrection and as it prepares for a series of hearings in June.

Questions about Capitol tours ahead of the attack have lingered ever since Jan. 6, when Democrats suggested that some Republican members may have helped the rioters. But so far there has been no public evidence of that assistance.

The letter to Loudermilk said that Republicans on a separate panel, the House Administration Committee, had previously said they reviewed security footage from Jan. 5 and said there were "no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on." Loudermilk is a member of that panel.

But the Jan. 6 committee's review of the evidence "directly contradicts that denial," Thompson and Cheney wrote.

That earlier assessment by GOP members came after three dozen Democrats sent a letter to the committee days after the attack citing alleged sightings of "unusually large" groups led by either Republican lawmakers or their staff in the days leading up to the attack.

Loudermilk said Thursday the accusation was false.

"A constituent family with young children meeting with their Member of Congress in the House Office Buildings is not a suspicious group or 'reconnaissance tour.' The family never entered the Capitol building,” Loudermilk said a joint statement with U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, the Republican ranking member of the House administration committee.

"We stand by our previous Ethics complaint against Representative Mikie Sherrill and 33 other Democratic Members of the House who made unsubstantiated claims that Republican members gave 'reconnaissance tours' of the Capitol. Any member who pushes false allegations against another member should be held accountable,” Loudermilk and Davis wrote. "We call on Capitol Police to release the tapes."

Loudermilk, a staunch conservative, has represented the 11th District since 2015. His district includes Bartow and Cherokee counties, along with a swath of Cobb County that covers Kennesaw, Marietta, Smyrna and Vinings.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

• Read the Jan. 6 committee's letter to Loudermilk.
• Read the response from Loudermilk and Davis.