Republicans Closer to Getting Complete Jan. 6 Committee Records Under New House Rules Package

The Jan. 6 Committee in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Dec. 19, 2022. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

Republicans have proposed a new rules package for securing records belonging to the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6th Attack investigating the Capitol breach, with the House Minority leader asking for preserving all findings of the panel.

At present, the Jan. 6 Committee has released some transcripts related to the case for the public. But the vast majority of raw information the committee has collected is set to be sent to the National Archives, where it could be held for up to 30 years or even 50 years in case the records are deemed sensitive in nature.

According to the proposed rules package by the GOP, the Jan. 6 Committee is directed to transfer all documents they have obtained in connection to the investigation to the House Committee on House Administration by Jan. 17.

In addition, it also orders the Archivist of the United States, which is the head of the National Archives, to return any records it has received by this date as well.

“Any records transferred or withdrawn pursuant to this subsection shall become the records of the Committee on House Administration,” states the proposal.

Preservation of Records

Back in November, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had written a letter to the chairman of the Jan. 6 Committee asking for the preservation of all records and transcripts of the testimony taken during the investigation.

“Some reports suggest that entire swaths of findings will be left out of the committee’s final report. You have spent a year and a half and millions of taxpayers’ dollars conducting this investigation,” the letter said.

“The official Congressional Records do not belong to you or any member, but to the American people, and they are owed all of the information you gathered—not merely the information that comports with your political agenda.”

Recently, McCarthy had also told the Jan. 6 Committee that when Republicans take majority in the House, they will hold hearings on security failures that took place on that day.

GOP Findings

Last month, a group of five House Republicans on a shadow committee released a report focusing on why the Capitol was left unprepared on Jan. 6. It states that the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) ignored intelligence about the possibility of violence on that day.

“The USCP Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division [IICD] failed to warn USCP leadership and line officers about the threat of violence, despite the fact that IICD analysts gathered intelligence that clearly indicated a need for a hardened security posture,” the report said.

It went on to accuse IICD leader Julie Farnam of having “misplaced priorities.” Republicans are said to have been excluded from key security discussions by the then-House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving at the direction of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and the House Democratic leadership.

In addition, USCP line officers were ill-equipped and under-trained to protect the Capitol complex that day, the report adds.