The former House Select Committee on Jan. 6 reportedly deleted 117 files containing “critical information” before Republicans took back the majority in the House of Representatives.
The House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee, which is investigating both the 2021 Capitol riot and the previous Democrat-led inquiry into the riot, learned that as the House transitioned to GOP control in 2023, more than 100 files were encrypted and purged from hard drives, according to the New York Post.
The select committee was supposed to turn over four terabytes of archived data to Republican Chairman Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, but his committee only received two terabytes of data, according to the outlet.
BREAKING: Pelosi’s Jan. 6 Committee deleted more than 100 encrypted files days before GOP took majority: sources https://t.co/ZXljvLwqJK #FoxNews
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) January 22, 2024
A digital forensics team hired by Loudermilk’s committee found that 117 files were deleted on Jan. 1, 2023, days before the transition of power following the midterm elections, “sources familiar with their search” told Fox News.
Loudermilk sent a letter to Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chaired the disbanded committee on the Capitol riot, requesting access to the encrypted files.
“One recovered file disclosed the identity of an individual whose testimony was not archived by the Select Committee,” Loudermilk wrote. “Further, we found that most of the recovered files are password-protected, preventing us from determining what they contain.”
Loudermilk noted that most of the recovered files required a password to access, asking Thompson to give him “a list of passwords for all password-protected files created by the Select Committee” so his committee can “access these files and ensure they are properly archived,” according to the outlet. (RELATED: Trump Appears To Confuse Nancy Pelosi With GOP Rival Over Claims Of ‘Deleted And Destroyed’ Jan. 6 Evidence)
Loudermilk also requested that the White House general counsel and the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provide “unedited and unredacted transcripts” of White House and DHS testimony to the former select committee, the outlet reported. The chairman set the deadline for White House and DHS compliance for Jan. 24.
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