GOP recovers more than 100 files allegedly deleted by Pelosi's J6 panel days before losing majority control

Sources say the Jan. 6 House Committee deleted more than 100 encrypted files just days before Republicans took control to hide documents and evidence.

Fox News Digital reports that Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) leading an investigation into what happened on Jan. 6, including security lapses and “actions” taken by the former select committee investigating the Capitol riot.

“Loudermilk last week told Fox News Digital that his investigation has entered a 'new phase' with renewed support from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who has pledged additional resources to the panel investigation,” Fox News reported.

“Sources familiar with Loudermilk's investigation told Fox News Digital that under House rules, the former select committee, which was chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democrat, had to turn over all documents from its investigation to the new GOP.-led panel, after Republicans gain a majority in the House of Representatives after the 2022 midterm elections,” the outlet revealed.

Thanks @SpeakerJohnson for your continued support. https://t.co/FfkUo950Z7

— Rep. Barry Loudermilk (@RepLoudermilk) January 15, 2024

“Sources told Fox News Digital that Thompson had told Loudermilk that the select committee would hand over four terabytes of archived data, but that the new committee only received about two terabytes of data,” Fox News added.

Loudermilk's committee hired a digital forensics team that set out to scrape the hard drives trying to figure out what information was missing. According to Fox News, 117 files were encrypted and deleted. They were erased on January 1, 2023, when the Republicans came to power in the House of Representatives. This was just days before Thompson was asked to hand them over to the new committee.

Loudermilk is now asking Thompson for answers and passwords so he can access the encrypted files.

“As you acknowledged in your letter of July 7, 2023, the Select Committee to investigate the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol (select committee) failed to file all committee records as required by House rules,” Loudermilk wrote in a letter to Thompson. “You wrote that you sent specific transcribed interviews and statements to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, but did not file them with the House Clerk.”

Loudermilk said Thompson “claimed you turned over 4 terabytes of digital files, but the hard drives filed by the Select Committee with the House Clerk contain less than 3 terabytes of data.”

Jan. 6 House Select Committee Deleted More Than 100 Encrypted Files Before GOP Takeover

The forensics team discovers 117 deleted and encrypted files from the Capitol riot probe. The GOP-led committee received only two terabytes of data instead of the expected four.

All deleted files from… pic.twitter.com/evaWzZbTPU

— UngaTheGreat (@UngaTheGreat) January 22, 2024

Loudermilk informed Thompson that his experts were able to retrieve “numerous digital records from hard drives archived by the select committee.”

“A recovered file revealed the identity of an individual whose testimony was not filed by the Select Committee,” he said in the letter. “Furthermore, we found that most of the recovered files are password protected, preventing us from determining what they contain.”

Loudermilk also sent letters to the White House general counsel and the Department of Homeland Security general counsel requesting “unredacted and unredacted transcripts” of White House and DHS testimony in former select committeeaccording to Fox News.

Thompson did not release them either, but Loudermilk's committee knows that transcripts of those interviews exist. Loudermilk is demanding a response from the White House and DHS by January 24.

Just when you think the government couldn't betray the citizens anymore, they destroy documents that belong to the public.

Overreach is borderline tyrannical at this point.

The Jan. 6 House Committee deleted more than 100 encrypted files just days before the GOP took…

— Carissa (@njoyzgrl81) January 22, 2024

“It is obvious that Pelosi's Select Committee went to great lengths to prevent the American people from seeing certain documents produced in their investigation. It also appears that Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney sought to obstruct our Subcommittee by not preserving information and critical videos as required by House rules,” Loudermilk bluntly charged in the Fox News Digital interview.

“The American people deserve to know the whole truth, and President Johnson has empowered me to use whatever tools are necessary to retrieve these documents to get the truth, and I will,” he vowed.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is a constitutional conservative who researches and writes extensively on politics and current affairs.

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