Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), responding to footage of a man who took part in a tour the day before the Capitol riot on January 6 and later threatened lawmakers, said it’s clear her colleagues “wish me harm.”
The comments stem from the House select committee on Wednesday desperately clinging to a conspiracy theory involving Representative Barry Loudermilk, a Georgia Republican, whom they are accusing of leading a ‘reconnaissance tour’ on January 5th.
However, the Capitol police cleared Loudermilk and the tour of any wrongdoing earlier this week, writing a letter to House Administration Committee ranking member Rodney Davis (R-IL) stating “there is no evidence” Loudermilk and the tour in question entered the Capitol.
“We train our officers on being alert for people conducting surveillance or reconnaissance, and we do not consider any of the activities we observed to be suspicious,” Chief J. Thomas Manger wrote.
????BREAKING????: The truth will always prevail. As I’ve said since the Jan. 6 Committee made their baseless accusation about me to the media, I never gave a tour of the Capitol on Jan 5, 2021… pic.twitter.com/qBoLcmxnYQ
— Rep. Barry Loudermilk (@RepLoudermilk) June 14, 2022
RELATED: One Of The January 6 Committee’s Conspiracy Theories About Riot Debunked By Capitol Police
AOC Responds To Capitol Video: My Colleagues Wish Me Harm
The House select committee investigating the events of January 6 seemingly refuted the Capitol police, an interesting move considering they are an integral part of their narrative that the riot was a violent insurrection.
The panel released video footage of the tour and claimed individuals “photographed and recorded areas of the complex not typically of interest to tourists.”
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One man who was allegedly from that tour, but has not been identified, is heard in a video at the rally on January 6th making vague threats to specific lawmakers.
“There’s no escape Pelosi, Schumer, Nadler. We’re coming for you,” he is heard saying. “They got it surrounded. It’s all the way up there on the hill, and it’s all the way around, and they’re coming in, coming in like white on rice for Pelosi, Nadler, even you, AOC.”
The Select Committee renews request for information from Representative Barry Loudermilk.
In a letter to Loudermilk, Chair @BennieGThompson underscored the need to gather more info about certain individuals who were part of the tour through the Capitol complex on Jan 5, 2021. pic.twitter.com/G91zhuws4e
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) June 15, 2022
Ocasio-Cortez responded to the news of the video saying she wasn’t surprised to hear the threat and suggested it was more a culmination of attacks directed at her than a one-off incident.
“I think it’s been very clear for a very long time that I work with people who wish me harm. Who wish me physical harm, who wish me political harm, who wish me harm,” she told reporters.
I asked @AOC about being named/threatened directly in this new video from the #Jan6th committee.
“I think it’s been very clear for a very long time that I work with people who wish me harm,” she told me. “I experienced [Jan 6th] as a culmination of the violent rhetoric.” @NY1 pic.twitter.com/TGZJ5E2Kqh
— Kevin Frey (@KevinFreyTV) June 15, 2022
RELATED: AOC Tears Up Having To Relive January 6 Footage: ‘I Am So Angry’
Loudermilk Points Out That The Capitol Police Said Nothing Suspicious Took Place
Honestly, AOC’s response to the latest Capitol footage is rather tame considering the hyperbole she typically engages in.
Just last week, upon watching the first public hearing held by the select committee, the New York socialist became visibly upset and had tears in her eyes after having to “relive” the events from January 6th.
“I am so angry. Having to relive that footage,” she said, biting her lip and rubbing her forehead.
Last May, Ocasio-Cortez revealed that she was in therapy to learn to cope with the “extraordinarily traumatizing” Capitol protest.
She previously accused Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) of trying to have her “killed” during the Capitol protest and suggested anyone downplaying her trauma was using tactics deployed by sexual abusers.
So, suggesting Republicans in Congress “wish me” physical harm is actually pretty mild by her melodramatic standards.
According to her own account, AOC was in the Cannon House Office Building at the time of the Capitol riot, later moving to the Longworth building at the request of police.
Lmfao, she wasn’t even in the building.
— sameera khan (@SameeraKhan) June 15, 2022
Loudermilk Responds To Latest Efforts
Loudermilk responded to the latest efforts of the select committee to keep their ‘reconnaissance tour’ conspiracy theory alive.
“What the Capitol Police said doesn’t fit the narrative that the January 6 committee wants to come up with,” he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“The Capitol Police looked not only at the same video, but more video than what the select committee selected to release. And they saw nothing suspicious,” he added. “People take pictures there all the time.”
In comments captured by @KyleAlexStewart, Barry Loudermilk cited a golden eagle on the stairwell the man was filming. Per my own photo circa 2019, there is indeed a pretty cool golden eagle in that stairwell. pic.twitter.com/jBahEUvgiP
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) June 15, 2022
RELATED: Trump Pens Epic 12-Page Response To Jan. 6 Hearings, Hints At Announcing 2024 Campaign
Loudermilk asked, “Why doesn’t the January 6 committee show the entire video because they’re taking pictures all up and down the hallway?”
He pointed out different things the group may have been taking pictures of and said “the Capitol Police, they know this.”
“But to the January 6 committee, it doesn’t fit the narrative that they want to present to the American people.”
NBC News justice reporter Ryan Reilly even seemed to express some level of skepticism tweeting that the man in the video “appears to just be filming anything and everything.”
“We’re with Barry Loudermilk of Georgia…”
Little scoop here: more video from the man filming the Jan. 5 Capitol tour that wasn’t included in committee’s video.
He takes particular interest in the “How The House Works” sign, appears to just be filming anything and everything. pic.twitter.com/CTxY6oe9Oc
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) June 15, 2022
House Select Committee Taking A Gamble
Where this goes from here will be interesting. The House select committee is taking an incredible gamble here by pushing a narrative in which they have very little proof other than the claim that the man at the tour was also at the rally the next day.
Refuting the Capitol police letter exonerating Loudermilk runs the risk of casting doubt on witnesses from the same department which they have used in their hearings.
And if these claims fall through, this, coupled with the fact they’ve been caught ‘doctoring‘ a text message as evidence, further kills the credibility of an already questionable and highly partisan panel.
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