Live Updates: Election Certification, Trump Presidential Transition News

On By Littum

An image of a hangman's noose, seen outside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, is shown during the House Select Committee's final public meeting in December 2022.

The top Democrat on the House Administration Committee released a report Monday that sought to discredit Republican efforts to rewrite the narrative of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that has gripped the party over the past four years.

The report is a direct response to a Republican-led investigation by House GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk that culminated in allegations that former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney should be prosecuted by the FBI for her role in investigating the attack.

As Congress prepares to certify the 2024 presidential election, the report released by Democratic Representative Joseph Morelle emphasizes that fundamental questions about who was responsible for the 2021 attack and how it was subsequently investigated remain politically charged.

Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, accuses Loudermilk of leading an investigation over the past two years that benefited President-elect Donald Trump instead of working to secure the Capitol to prevent future attacks.

Morelle includes a letter from a lawyer representing former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to refute Loudermilk’s claims that Cheney colluded with Hutchinson, whose explosive testimony was crucial to the former select committee’s investigation.

“The Loudermilk Report is false in several respects, including its suggestion that Ms. Hutchinson and Congressman Cheney had any inappropriate communications,” Hutchinson’s attorney, William H. Jordan, wrote in a letter made public by Morelle.

In his report, Morelle said Republicans “failed to produce any new substantive findings related to Capitol security” and criticized their decision to release Capitol security footage to the public on Rumble, a third-party website, with a first look previously given to Fox News Hosted by Tucker Carlson.

Former US Capitol Police Acting Director of Intelligence Julie Farnam outlined to Loudermilk’s subcommittee in June 2024 her concerns about releasing the security footage at the Rumble.

Uploading the security footage to the Rumble cost more than $250,000 in taxpayer funds in the second quarter of 2024, according to committee disbursements cited by Morelle.