Dec. 17 (UPI) — Republicans released their interim report Tuesday on “the politicization” of the January 6th Select Committee and recommended former Rep. Liz Cheney face criminal investigation.
The 128-page report, released by House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., “on the failures and politicization of the January 6th Select Committee,” accuses Cheney, R-Wyo., of witness tampering and claims the “Pelosi-appointed committee” was used as a “political weapon” to pin the blame for the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol on President-elect Donald Trump.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s multimillion-dollar Select Committee was a political weapon with a singular focus to deceive the public into blaming President Trump for the violence on Jan. 6 and to tarnish the legacy of his first presidency,” the report states.
The currently disbanded House Jan. 6 Committee was made up of seven House Democrats and two House Republicans, former Reps. Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
Tuesday’s report accuses Cheney of colluding with “star witness” and former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, without her attorney’s knowledge.
“It is unusual — and potentially unethical — for a member of Congress conducting an investigation to contact a witness if the member knows that the individual is represented by legal counsel,” the report states.
The report also claims the select committee knew Hutchinson’s accusations about Trump were false and withheld evidence from its Final Report, while deleting records that should have been preserved.
Members of the committee have insisted they retained everything they were legally required to.
Cheney, who as a Republican campaigned in October for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, blasted the report.
“Chairman Loudermilk’s, R-Ga., ‘Interim Report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did,” Cheney said in a statement.
“Their allegations do not reflect a review of actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth. No reputable lawyer, legislator or judge would take this seriously.”
Cheney also cited the numerous Republican witnesses who testified before the panel, as she targeted Trump.
“January 6th showed Donald Trump for who he really is — a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave,” Cheney added.
According to Loudermilk, “This interim report reveals that there was not just one single cause for what happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, but it was a series of intelligence, security and leadership failures at several levels and numerous entities.”
Specifically, the report claims, “President Trump did not have intelligence indicating violence on the morning of January 6,” and “Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller dismissed President Trump’s order prior to Jan. 6, to use ‘any and all’ military assets to keep the demonstrations safe.”
Loudermilk argues the select committee controlled the narrative of what happened that day.
“The Democrats’ former J6 Select Committee conducted their ‘investigation’ outside the bounds of legitimacy, suppressed evidence and deleted key information,” Loudermilk wrote Tuesday in a post on X.
“Today’s report exposes them for misleading Congress and the American people.”