Jan. 6 committee seeks to interview Rep. Barry Loudermilk about alleged tour

May 19 (UPI) -- Members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riots asked Thursday to meet with Rep. Barry Loudermilk about a tour he allegedly led through the Capitol complex the day before the attack.

in a letter to the Republican from Georgia, members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol said they seek his "voluntary cooperation."

"The American people deserve a full and accurate accounting of what happened on January 6th," the letter said. "We aim to make informed legislative recommendations taking account of all relevant facts."

Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and ranking member Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., signed the letter.

The letter said the Committee on House Administration, of which Loudermilk is a member, reported that it reviewed surveillance footage from the days preceding the Jan. 6 attack and found there "were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on," referring to former President Donald Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." The select committee said, though, that it also reviewed the footage and found evidence that "directly contradicts that denial."

The committee said it found evidence that Loudermilk led a tour through parts of the Capitol complex on Jan. 5, 2021.

Loudermilk, along with Committee on House Administration ranking member Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., issued a statement Thursday saying the select committee's suggestion that he led a tour as a reconnaissance mission 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," the statement said.

"The facts speak for themselves; no place that the family went on the 5th was breached on the 6th, the family did not enter the Capitol grounds on the 6th, and no one in that family has been investigated or charged in connection to January 6th."

Loudermilk and Davis called on the Capitol Police to release tapes showing the meeting.

The select committee's letter proposed a meeting next week depending on Loudermilk's schedule.