Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA.) denies involvement in the Republican-led committee's decision. washington postOne of his aides reported that he urged the panel to do so out of fear that GOP lawmakers would surface texts allegedly sent to former White House staffers.
The Washington Post, citing written communications and a person familiar with the effort, reported that June Johnson's aides had been named to the Star of the Year award in the Jan. 6 selection committee investigation. reported advising members involved in the investigation against Hetchinson to prevent sexual disclosure. An explicit text member of Congress sent her.
The story did not name the lawmaker's staff or the lawmaker who allegedly sent the vile messages.
The report also states that after a June conversation, the speaker and his senior staff told Rep. Barry Rudermilk (R-Ga.) and his aides that Hutchinson's testimony could embarrass President Trump. He said he said. The outlet cited two people who attended the meeting.
Loudermilk at the time was leading the committee's Jan. 6 GOP investigation.
However, Johnson denies any involvement and claims that Loudermilk ultimately did not subpoena Hutchinson because the original Eide was already working with the committee.
“I had nothing to do with it. The decision not to issue a subpoena to Cassidy Hutchinson was made by the chair of that committee, which is Barry Loudermilk,” Johnson said. “He and I just talked about it. Cassidy Hutchinson came in and probably wanted to sell more books so there was no reason to issue a subpoena to her. It didn't make sense to give it more attention, she had already testified, and it was a bit of a fiasco. So that decision was made.
“There are all these allegations that someone on my staff was – communicating with someone else on my staff,” he added. “I don't know every staff conversation, but that had nothing to do with me.
In a separate conversation with a reporter, he called the story “highly inaccurate.”
Similarly, Loudermilk told reporters that his committee decided to issue the subpoena to Hutchinson because it was working with the panel.
“I received no direct communication,” Loudermilk said. “As I have said in the past, we did not need to subpoena because her attorney was working with us.”
Loudermilk said he met with members of the speaker's office about the subpoena because the committee did not have subpoena power, but he said he could not recall anyone telling him not to issue the subpoena. .
“We have held many meetings since reporting directly to the speaker's office in the investigation because we did not have subpoena power for potential subpoenas going forward. So I recall specific No, everyone says no summons,” Loudermilk said. “I mean, there was something we laid out. Hey, here's a list of people that we might subpoena. But, you know, the threat of a subpoena is the same as the actual subpoena. It is always more powerful than the situation.”
Deputies also said they were not aware of any members sending sexually explicit messages to Hutchinson.
Hutchinson's lawyer confirmed that she received lewd texts due to the panel's handling of the panel's dissolution investigation on January 6, which caused Loudermilk to break down.
“Congressman Loudermilk requested information and documents from Mr. Hutchinson during his investigation, and Mr. Hutchinson voluntarily cooperated and responded to those requests without a subpoena,” attorney Bill Jordan said in a statement. .
“He then issued a misleading and factually unfounded report that crushed Ms. Hutchinson in a politically motivated attempt to rewrite history. Ms. Hutchinson said in a politically motivated attempt to rewrite history that Despite the efforts of men in powerful positions to testify honestly and stand behind every word.”
Loudermilk's latest report for December focuses primarily on former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
Cheney said at the time that Loudermilk's report “deliberately ignored the truth and the Select Committee's extraordinary evidence and instead fabricated lies and defamation allegations to try to hide what Donald Trump did.” said.
However, Loudermilk's report criticizes Hutchinson's appearance before the committee on January 6 and seeks to discredit some of her bombshell testimony.
That includes relaying a story she heard from someone else about Trump ramming the driver of his car to get to the Capitol.
Loudermilk was then tapped to lead another subcommittee on Jan. 6, this time to review some subcommittees within the Judiciary Committee.
According to Georgia lawmakers, this second review from the GOP will primarily focus on security failures.
“Security at the Capitol is one of our primary focuses. We're going to take a deeper look at intelligence that may or may not have been collected by various agencies. “What did they do? Did they brief the White House on any of this? Did they brief the U.S. Capitol Police?” he said.
“So there are a lot of holes that we need to fill.”
Contributed by Emily Brooks.
