House Republican demands unredacted Jan. 6 panel transcripts from White House

House Republican demands unredacted Jan. 6 panel transcripts from White House
NBC Universal
KYLE STEWART
Updated August 25, 2023 at 12:46 PM

WASHINGTON — Rep. Barry Loudermilk, in a letter sent Friday obtained exclusively by NBC News, called on the White House to return several transcripts of interviews conducted by the House Jan. 6 committee “without alteration or redaction.”

Loudermilk, R-Ga., who is leading an inquiry into the Democrat-led Jan. 6 panel as chairman of the House Administration’s subcommittee on oversight, wrote that the transcripts he's requesting include testimony from "Secret Service agents or employees who were assigned to former President Trump on January 6, 2021" and who testified to the select committee at the end of 2022.

His letter comes after White House special counsel Richard Sauber informed Loudermilk on Tuesday that the White House is still reviewing transcripts of four individuals who served in the Trump White House in nonpartisan roles. Sauber said the White House would make redactions to “protect sensitive operational and personal information” and then send the transcripts to the National Archives and Records Administration, along with copies to Congress.

Loudermilk wrote in his letter that the White House should first turn over the transcripts without redactions and then work with his subcommittee to determine if any are needed.

“Once these records, including transcripts of testimony from the Secret Service agents and employees, have been returned in their original, unaltered format, I am willing to discuss any redactions you believe are necessary prior to these records being released publicly,” Loudermilk wrote, adding that his subcommittee is prepared to receive documents in a classified setting if needed.

Asked by NBC News what his response would be if the White House provides redacted documents, Loudermilk said, “Anything other than receiving original, unredacted copies is unacceptable.”

“If the White House sends redacted documents, we will respond appropriately to ensure we get the full original copies. The White House does not own these records, the House does. This was testimony given to a House Committee — not just records from an executive branch agency.”

He set a deadline for the White House to turn over the records by 5 p.m. on Aug. 30.

In the new letter, Loudermilk also took issue with Sauber's statement that the transcripts would be given to the National Archives. "These documents remain current records of the U.S. House of Representatives, which has designated the Committee on House Administration as their appropriate repository," he wrote, adding that the Archives "has no role with respect to current records of the House."

Sauber wrote to Loudermilk this week that Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the chairman and vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, asked the White House to review the transcripts to “address the need for limitations on disclosure of sensitive information."

Loudermilk originally wrote to the White House on Aug. 8 to request the return of “all original documents and records related to the events of January 6, 2021, that the White House has that originated from the Select Committee.

Jan. 6 rioter who urged mob to take officers' guns took a secret plea deal, DOJ confirms
NBC Universal | RYAN J. REILLY
Updated October 2, 2023 at 8:02 PM

WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 defendant caught on camera using a bullhorn to urge fellow pro-Trump rioters to steal law enforcement officers' guns took a secret plea deal and was sentenced to 2½ years in prison this year, the Justice Department and his legal team acknowledged for the first time in a filing unsealed Monday.

Samuel Lazar, a pro-Trump rioter, also shot at a line of officers with pepper spray on Jan. 6, 2021, the government said.

Lazar was actively featured on the FBI's Capitol Violence website when he attended an event featuring Rudy Giuliani and former Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano in May 2021. There are more than half a dozen photos of Lazar and Mastriano together at various political events; Mastriano has said that he cannot vet everyone he takes photos with and that anyone who attacked law enforcement should be "held accountable."

Lazar was arrested July 27, 2021, the day of the first public hearing of the Jan. 6 committee, which featured the testimony of four of the police officers who protected the Capitol during the attack.


Samuel Lazar at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Attorney for the District of Columbia)


At a sealed proceeding in March 2022, Lazar pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, as well as aiding and abetting, and he agreed to cooperate with the government, according to the joint filing unsealed Monday. Lazar was sentenced to 30 months, or 2½ years, in federal prison on March 17, 2023, the filing said.

NBC News first reported on Lazar's sentencing the day it happened after it spotted members of his family at the courthouse. Lazar's family members would not say what happened during the proceeding and what sentence Lazar received. The Justice Department declined to comment on Lazar's case at the time.

The filing was released after a petition was filed by a media coalition, which includes NBC News. The coalition filed a motion to unseal in April and a renewed motion last week after U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied the initial request.

The extent of Lazar’s cooperation with the government is unclear.

Video shows Lazar on Jan. 6 yelling, "Let's get their guns! Let's get their guuuuuuunnnns!" over a bullhorn as rioters fight with police on the west side of the Capitol. Video from later in the day shows Lazar, accompanied by his sister, talking about assaults on law enforcement officers. “They maced us, those tyrannical pieces of s---, and we maced them right the f--- back," he said in video cited by the Justice Department. There is no evidence Lazar entered the Capitol.

Federal Bureau of Prisons records had indicated that Lazar was set to be released in September 2023, and the bureau told The Associated Press last month that he had been released after having served a sentence for assaulting or resisting a federal officer. The joint filing unsealed Monday confirmed Lazar was released on Sept. 13, having served his 2½-year sentence after credits for good behavior were factored in.

In the joint filing unsealed Monday, the Justice Department and Lazar’s defense team requested 30 days to redact the documents before their release, saying "public dissemination of the information the Defendant supplied could impair or interfere with ongoing investigations and because Defendant named individuals responsible for criminal conduct who may not have been charged."