REPORT: J6 Committee Deleted Over 100 Files From Investigation Prior To Republican Takeover

The former Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has been revealed to have deleted at least 100 encrypted files related to their investigation prior to House Republicans taking over the lower chamber in January 2023.

On Monday, sources close to the House Administration Committee's Oversight Subcommittee led by Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) revealed that the January 6th Committee led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) was required to turn over all documents to the House GOP after they were awarded a majority by the American public in the midterm elections. Despite this requirement, per House rules, those on the January 6th Committee instead deleted dozens of files. Thompson told Loudermilk that the committee would turn over four terabytes of data to the Republicans. However, the Georgia Republican only received two terabytes, with House investigators determining that there were 112 files that were deleted on January 1, 2023, just two days before Republicans took control of the chamber on January 3.

In a letter obtained exclusively by Fox News, Loudermilk demanded action from the Mississippi Democrat. "As you acknowledged in your July 7, 2023 letter, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Select Committee) did not archive all Committee records as required by House Rules," the Georgia Republican wrote. "You wrote that you sent specific transcribed interviews and depositions to the White House and Department of Homeland Security but did not archive them with the Clerk of the House."

Loudermilk continued by explaining that there were terabytes of data missing and that many files were hidden behind password-protected accounts. While Thompson did not ensure that the files were archived correctly with the Clerk of the House, he did make sure to send off transcribed interviews to the Biden White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “You wrote that you sent specific transcribed interviews and depositions to the White House and Department of Homeland Security but did not archive them with the Clerk of the House," Loudermilk wrote, adding that one of the recovered files included testimony from an individual that had not been archived.

While the Republican chairman held Thompson's feet to the fire, he also sent letters to the White House and DHS to attempt to get ahold of the transcribed interviews that the January 6th Committee sent them. "It’s obvious that Pelosi's Select Committee went to great lengths to prevent Americans from seeing certain documents produced in their investigation. It also appears that Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney intended to obstruct our Subcommittee by failing to preserve critical information and videos as required by House rules," Loudermilk explained to Fox News. "The American people deserve to know the full truth, and Speaker Johnson has empowered me to use all tools necessary to recover these documents to get the truth, and I will."

In response to the report, conservatives online speculated about the potential reasoning behind the deletion of the files. "Nothing to see here - J6 was totally an 'insurrection' and not a fedsurrection," wrote Rogan O'Handley, also known as DC Draino. "Thats why the J6 Committee deleted so much evidence!" Reporter Julie Kelly also slammed the J6 Committee, writing, "In addition to destroying videotaped depositions and burying some written transcripts at Biden White House and DHS, J6 committee deleted files right before Dems were mandated to turn over all committee records to House GOP. Cover up, obstruction, contempt of Congress."

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