White House Says Republicans Can View Unredacted Jan. 6 Transcripts

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) speaks in Nashville, Tenn., on June 18, 2022. Seth Herald/Getty Images

Republicans can view transcripts from witnesses interviewed by the House of Representatives committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, but only if GOP members abide by certain conditions, the White House said in a new letter.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee, has been seeking the transcripts as he leads the GOP’s review of the investigation.

The probe was completed by a select committee headed and dominated by Democrats during the last Congress; Republicans now control the lower chamber.

Mr. Loudermilk received transcripts of four White House workers but they were “heavily redacted” Mr. Loudermilk told White House lawyer Richard Sauber on Jan. 18 in a letter reviewed by The Epoch Times. “This is unacceptable.”

Because the transcripts are the property of the House, Mr. Loudermilk said, the White House should provide them in an unredacted form.

Mr. Sauber replied in a missive made public Friday by Politico, writing that the White House would let Mr. Loudermilk and other Republicans review the transcripts.

“We will make the unredacted transcripts available to you for review in camera, provided that you agree in writing to abide by the commitments made on a bipartisan basis by the select committee—to maintain the anonymity of the four witnesses consistent with the conditions under which the witnesses agreed to appear before the select committee, and to prevent the disclosure of ‘operational details and private information,’” Mr. Sauber said.

He said that the redactions applied to the transcripts hid sensitive information, in line with an agreement between the White House and the select panel.

Mr. Loudermilk’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The transcripts are among those held back by the select committee, which released redacted versions of most of the interviews it conducted.

The transcripts show testimony from people who have not been named publicly. Mr. Sauber said they are people who “worked at the White House on January 6, 2021, during the Trump Administration, serving in non-partisan roles, including in positions with national security responsibilities.”

The select committee offered snippets from the testimonies in its final report, including one from a witness it described as “a White House employee with national security responsibilities.” That witness told members that, according to White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato, President Trump was acting in an irate manner while in a presidential vehicle on Jan. 6.

“The select committee is not revealing the identity of this witness to guard against the risk of retaliation,” the panel said in a footnote.

The select committee was chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and included just two Republicans, former Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). Both are fervently against former President Donald Trump and were appointed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Republicans are conducting the review to unearth information the panel left out of its public presentations. The panel has already been found to have edited security footage from inside the U.S. Capitol.

Missing Records

Mr. Thompson confirmed previously that some of the materials acquired by the panel he headed were not sent to the House Administration Committee. They included videos and transcripts.

“These materials include important intelligence and other law enforcement information, records identifying witnesses, and other information the Select Committee deemed sensitive pursuant to agreements with the White House and DHS,” or the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Thompson said. He said the records had been loaned to the DHS and the White House.

President Trump tried subpoenaing the records but was rejected by a federal judge.

Mr. Loudermilk said recently that due to missing files, the Oversight Subcommittee commissioned a forensic analysis of hard drives archived from the select committee and unearthed some 117 files that had been deleted.

Many of the files are encrypted, or password-protected, meaning they cannot be accessed, he said.

“In order to access these files and ensure they are properly archived, I ask that you provide a list of passwords for all password-protected files created by the select committee,” Mr. Loudermilk wrote.

Mr. Thompson said in response that “I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.”

He added later: “I cannot assist your attempts to keep January 6th conspiracy theories alive with your subcommittee’s misrepresentations and continued fishing expeditions all in the service of your and Donald Trump’s political interests.”

Mr. Loudermilk also wrote recently to a DHS lawyer, demanding unredacted transcripts that the select committee gave to the agency.

“If you continue to refuse to return these records, I will have no other choice than to take steps to compel you to return these records,” Mr. Loudermilk wrote. “Once these records, including transcripts of testimonies from Secret Service agents and employees, have been returned in their original, unaltered format, then I am willing to discuss any redactions you believe are necessary prior to these records being released publicly.”

A DHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email that the agency “responds to congressional correspondence directly via official channels, and the department will continue to respond appropriately to congressional oversight.”