- House Republicans have launched their first January 6-centric investigation of the 118th Congress.
- Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk is spearheading the latest oversight project.
House Republican leaders are following through with an anticipated probe into the select committee panel that recommended prosecuting Donald Trump for the January 6, 2021 riot, tasking Rep. Barry Loudermilk with digging back into the sore spot.
The Georgia Republican's job, as the newly minted oversight subcommittee chairman on the House Administration Committee, is to highlight the "security failures" GOP leaders insist had more to do with the deadly siege at the US Capitol than anything the embattled former president said or did at the preceding "Stop the Steal" rally.
"The Subcommittee on Oversight is dedicated to following the facts, not a particular political narrative," Loudermilk wrote in an email to Insider, adding that he's determined to figure out "what really happened on January 6 so we can ensure it never happens again."
Loudermilk said elsewhere that reexamining the exhaustive work done by the January 6 select committee members and staff as well as any personal biases would be part of the process because they took a different tack.
"I think they looked more on the political side of it," he told CNN.
Two years after the devastating attack on Congress, Republicans have been swept back into January 6-related news cycles by converging House priorities.
The mission to turn every House committee into an investigative arm focused on bringing down President Joe Biden — a strategic maneuver Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz called for last summer — already has House oversight chiefs like Judiciary chair Jim Jordan and Oversight chair James Comer jockeying for attention.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy stirred the pot a few weeks ago by giving scandal-plagued Fox News personality Tucker Carlson access to Capitol Hill security footage that the right wing commentator has used to try and whitewash the 2021 riot — a rewriting of history Capitol Hill police chief Thomas Manger condemned in an open letter.
House Republicans took their first swing at redirecting blame for January 6 in late December, issuing a report that faulted former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and congressional security forces for the entire ordeal.
Loudermilk, who fought back against the select committee's subpoena, recently unveiled a web portal to gather tips, anonymous or otherwise, from anyone who feels like they have relevant information to share.
House Administration staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment on how many submissions have come in so far. But an aide said they'll "see where the facts lead."