Categories: Politics

Republicans say the Jan. 6 congressional committee withheld evidence. Whether that is so is complicated

(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

Republicans say the Jan. 6 congressional committee withheld evidence. Whether that is so is complicated

Sarah D Wire

August 14, 2023

The Republican chairman of the House subcommittee examines the January 6 of last year

2021,

uprising hearings said

load

week that some of the evidence gathered for the investigation had not been preserved.

Though some Republicans and former President Trump have jumped on the plunge

explanations

as a sign the house Jan 6

subcommittee select committee

did something wrong, the rules and standards of what is kept after one

C

continued research is loose and subject to

the

interpretation of each new congress.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) Chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight told Fox News

on Tuesday

that the House of Representatives 6 Jan selection committee

failed

appropriately preserve documents, data and video deposits, including communications with which it had

President

to pray

‘s administration

and failed to provide any evidence that it looked into Capitol Hill security flaws on the day of the uprising.

Loudermilk’s His

spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from

T

Hey Times.

On

the

Truth Social

platform

On Wednesday, Trump falsely stated that “The Jan. 6 Unselect Committee threw EVERYTHING out! Thrown out, deleted, thrown out. A blatant violation of the law. They had so much to hide, and now that I have subpoenas power, they didn’t want to get caught. They KNEW EXACTLY what they were doing. AN EGREGIOUS CRIMINAL ACT & BLATENT NON-OBEY OF THE LAW! Can you imagine if I would have done something like that???.”

That is not correct. Much of the committee’s work was made public through a

N

Report of 845 pages, eight chapters, several televised hearings and

the

approximately 180 declassified transcripts and interviews.

Loudermilk itself

supposedly

only

That

the information his subcommittee has is incomplete, not that everything has been destroyed.

“We have a lot of depositions, we have a lot of subpoenas, we have videos and other documents that have been provided by individuals through subpoenas,” he told Fox News.

P

It was long expected that possession of the vast trove of evidence amassed by the committee would remain a problem on Capitol Hill once the panel’s work was done. The limited committee is 18

month survey is considered one of the most comprehensive

question

in congressional history, but a lot of it happened behind closed doors, so the full extent of what

What

collected is unknown.

Commission staff spoke to more than 1,000 people for the investigation, resulting in potentially millions of pages of statements, cell phone and text records, emails, employee notes, and analysis by outside organizations.

O

Official data are

typical

turned over to a successor committee, then to the clerk of the house, and finally to the National Archives, where they have been hidden from public view by law for at least 30 years. Sensitive information can be kept for up to 50 years.

When Republicans took control of the House in January, they included something new in the rules for the 118th Congress

:

an order that all documents withheld from the Jan. 6 select committee go to the House Administration Committee

instead of to the National Archives

. Everything

documents materials

already sent to the

National

The archives had to be returned.

house rule VII,

the rule used by almost every Congress, including the current one

which

outlines the preservation of house records at the end of each two-year convention

and has been used by almost every Congress, including the current one

, loosely defines what should be kept. It says committees should do that

persist

“official, standing report of the committee (including any record of legislative, oversight or other activity of such committee or subcommittee thereof).”

What

committees consider to have an official record

varied greatly over the years

. For some,

the definition

includes transcripts of hearings, official correspondence, and bills of law. Other

Commission

This can include employee notes and internal memos. Keep some

only

their final report and announcements of hearings held.

Then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield), who is now Speaker, sent Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the Select Committee,

(D ma’am.)

a letter in December demanding the preservation of all collected documents and transcripts of testimony given during your investigation in accordance with the house rules, but he had no authority to enforce it.

Because the committee dissolved just before the new congressional, controlled by Republicans, was sworn in, their new rule requiring the retention of “all non-current documents” from the committee could only apply to documents that had already been turned over to a successor committee or to the National Archives. In short, the Republicans

could not recommend the selection committee of January 6

turn something

because it no longer existed

.

Loudermilk shared with Fox a series of letters he and Thompson had exchanged

this year. In a footnote

by

In a July 7 letter, Thompson wrote that, in accordance with Office of the Clerk guidelines, “the Select Committee did not archive temporary committee records that were not advanced by the committee’s actions, such as use in hearings or official publications. , or who has not continued its research activities.”

Thompson also said the select committee was not required to archive all video recordings of transcribed interviews or statements.

.

but determined that written transcripts were sufficient under House

R

rule VII.

Trump and his legal team will have access to at least some materials, including potential

That

which were not considered official and were kept for the National Archives. the

S

electr

C

Ommittee provided a wealth of information to

S

special

C

oursel Jack Smith, who

brought an indication

Trump last week on four felony criminal charges.

Smith said in a lawsuit Thursday that he is willing to turn over discovery material in the case once a protective order is in effect, including unredacted material obtained from other government agencies, including the House Select Committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.

On Friday, prosecutor Thomas Windom said information had not been made public by the

select sub

committee, but provided to the special counsel, is among the information that would be classified as sensitive in an effort to prevent Trump and his legal team from disclosing it at trial.

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