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Barry Loudermilk, Chairman of the new House Republican-led Select Subcommittee on January 6, claims that key surveillance footage showing areas near the RNC and DNC where pipe bombs were placed the prior evening was not preserved. Republican Rep. Loudermilk (GA-11) made the jaw-dropping accusation in a recent interview. "There's still so many questions regarding this, because one of the things that has raised our eyebrows is as we go and we look for video on January 6th, because we want early morning video on January 6th to see, did anybody go back to these locations?" he said. "Unfortunately, that video apparently doesn't exist anymore," he stated. "We do have the January 5th video, but we've been told that no one ever preserved January 6th." "So that does raise our eyebrows a bit." READ MORE: D.C. Pipe Bomb Suspect Reportedly Admits: I Did It Loudermilk stops short of asserting that the surveillance videos outside both the RNC and DNC were intentionally deleted. But the gap in footage certainly raises many questions, especially when the FBI, before recent events, had identified over 39,000 video frames of the suspect, but had made no arrests. That changed earlier this month with the arrest of a suspect, 30-year-old Brian Cole Jr., nearly five years after the incident. Cole allegedly placed the pipe bombs outside both parties' committee headquarters on the night of January 5th. They were not discovered until around 1 p.m. the following day. So the footage in these locations might have provided a wealth of information. Did Cole return to the scene? What were people doing at these locations? Why did nobody see the devices until mid-afternoon the following day? As to that last point, Loudermilk went on to explain that there are Capitol Police cameras that picked up footage of the "walking paths" the alleged wannabe bomber took that day. But no, in the areas that would seem critical, those clips are missing. Which is crucial because bomb-sniffing dogs and witnesses somehow missed the devices that day. "None of the camera angles, like behind the RNC, behind the DNC, that we know of that exists today of where this person would have been, had the closest angles," he continued. "And so that has inhibited our investigation into this theory of maybe they were placed back out again." 39,000 video frames, and these, in the most vital locations from January 6th, are missing. Loudermilk does offer vaguely plausible theories as to why the bombs might have been missed—the dog's handler might have been distracted when he hit on one device, a witness may not have seen the other device originally—but the fact that the videos apparently don't exist is quite a hindrance to finding out any information. This also raises new questions that need to be looked into. Particularly, who removed these videos and why? Was it intentional and with a reasonable explanation, or did somebody go out of their way to suppress evidence? What happened to the chain of custody with these videos? Cole was arrested at his family home and charged with transporting explosives across state lines with intent to kill, injure, or cause damage, and with attempted malicious destruction of property using explosive materials. Investigators reportedly linked him to the pipe bombs via credit card purchases, cellphone data, and surveillance efforts. Cole made his initial court appearance on December 5th. He did not enter a plea and was ordered detained pending trial; his next court date is a detention hearing on December 15th. As RedState has reported, Cole reportedly admitted to committing the crime. |
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