Capitol Police Chief: “No Evidence” Loudermilk Tour Group Entered Capitol or Engaged in Suspicious Activities

In a letter to House Committee on House Administration Ranking Member Rodney Davis (R-IL), U.S. Capitol Chief of Police J. Thomas Manger offered facts on a tour group hosted by Rep. Barry Loudermilk on January 5, 2021, the day before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol had asked to interview Loudermilk as part of its investigation, apparently releasing the letter requesting his “voluntary cooperation” to the media before it was sent to Loudermilk.

Loudermilk has maintained that the group was constituents and that they never entered the U.S. Capitol Building. Manger reviewed the surveillance footage. His letter to Davis backs up Loudermilk’s version of events. The group, Manger explained, “entered the Rayburn Building at 11:00 am and was met by a Congressional staffer.” The staffer took the group to Loudermilk’s office in Rayburn.

“The group reappeared on the closed-circuit television system at 1:00 pm, entering the basement of the Cannon House Office Building that houses a series of exhibits. The group entered the basement of…Cannon from the direction of the Longworth House Office Building Cafeteria,” the U.S. Capitol Chief of Police noted. He also noted that the group wasn’t found on any surveillance footage in tunnels to the U.S. Capitol. Loudermilk would’ve had to be with them to get in the tunnels because of protocols since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is no evidence that Representative Loudermilk entered the U.S. Capitol with this group on January 5, 2021. We train our officers on being alert for people conducting surveillance or reconnaissance, and we do not consider any of the activities we observed as suspicious,” Manger added.

Loudermilk took a bit of a victory lap on Twitter, posting screenshots of the letter. “The truth will always prevail. As I’ve said since the Jan. 6 Committee made their baseless accusation about me to the media, I never gave a tour of the Capitol on Jan 5, 2021…and a small group visiting their congressman is in no way suspicious activity. Now the Capitol Police have confirmed this fact.