Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) on Thursday previewed what he has in his crosshairs now that he’s been charged to lead a new House select committee to reexamine the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Loudermilk, who spent much of the last two years attacking the findings of the previous congressional panel that investigated Jan. 6, is set to continue the GOP-lead House investigation into the events of the deadly riots incited by President Donald Trump four years ago.
“What were those things that led to the security failures,” he told Raw Story in an interview Thursday. “That’s what we’re going to be focused on.”
But Loudermilk also revealed what the biggest questions still lingering in his mind surrounding Jan. 6 just a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the creation of the new select committee.
“The most immediate is from that Department of Justice IG report on the confidential human resources,” Loudermilk said Thursday, echoing familiar concerns from MAGA Republicans like House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH).
“If you had 34 confidential resources embedded in these extremist groups, did you not gain intelligence? And what did you do with it? Right, how did you not know that this was happening,” Loudermilk told Raw Story. "So that’s going to be one of our first targets.”
A DOJ Inspector General report released in December found that there was “no evidence” to conclude that "the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6.”
But that hasn’t stopped Republicans from continuing to claim that FBI informants, known as confidential human sources, were involved in orchestrating the attack – and not a mob of MAGA supporters.
Loudermilk on Thursday also slammed the last House committee that probed Jan. 6 over claims it destroyed evidence – and insists he has proof.
“Benny Thompson admitted to it,” the Georgia Republican said. “All the 1,100 video tapes of transcribed interviews and depositions were not preserved, he’s admitted that.”
Loudermilk added that he would continue to investigate Jan. 6 because, as he put it: “You have to look forward to find the mistakes you’ve made before you can correct them and identify them and that’s what we’re focused on.”
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