Jan. 6 panel releases video of Capitol tour led by Georgia's Loudermilk before attack

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., speaks as the House of Representatives debates the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019. (House Television via AP)

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection released video on Wednesday of a Capitol tour led by a Republican lawmaker the day before the attack, showing participants taking photos of stairwells and tunnels in the complex.

The panel released the video as it renewed calls for the GOP lawmaker, Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, to speak to the committee about the tour. Loudermilk has so far declined the interview and denied any wrongdoing, and the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police said in a letter to Republicans this week that after reviewing surveillance video, “we do not consider any of the activities we observed as suspicious.”

Still, the committee says it has questions. In addition to the surveillance video, the footage released by the panel also includes video of an unidentified man walking toward the Capitol on Jan. 6 holding a flagpole that appears to have a sharpened end, which he says is “for a certain person.” The committee says the man in the video is one of the tour participants who was taking photos inside the Capitol the day before.