U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., on Saturday accused the Jan. 6 committee of trying to destroy his reputation by releasing a video of him escorting Donald Trump supporters in a tour of U.S. House office buildings the day before the Jan. 6 attacks.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk
“If you’ve paid any attention to the news you will undoubtedly have seen seen me and my family on the news because we are now under a ruthless and false attack by the Jan. 6 committee,” Loudermilk said in a speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
“They have decided they want to push a narrative that somehow I gave a reconnaissance tours of the Capitol the day before the attacks of Jan. 6.”
The Cassville, Georgia, Republican has said he did not enter the U.S. Capitol with the group and has distributed a letter from the head of the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police backing up that claim. Instead, he walked with them in House office buildings adjacent to the Capitol.
The committee has asked Loudermilk to answer questions about the tour but he has not responded.
Loudermilk said the group was a family who came to his office for a meeting and he suggested that they were simply taking pictures as they toured Washington.
One of of the men in the group is shown in footage from the Jan. 6 attacks making veiled threats toward House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others as he marched to the Capitol. He has not been identified or charged in any crimes.
Loudermilk assailed the committee for suggesting he had done anything improper.
“Everyone on that committee knows that there is nothing to this, but they are willing to try to destroy the reputation of someone just for their political gain and we cannot allow that to happen,” Loudermilk said.
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