WASHINGTON, D.C. — The committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is pushing Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk to provide information about a tour he gave the day before the attack.

In a June 15 letter to Loudermilk, Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) referenced surveillance footage that appears to show Loudermilk showing a group of 10 people around several office buildings, as well as entrances to tunnels leading to the Capitol.

“Individuals on the tour photographed and recorded areas of the complex not typically of interest to tourists, including hallways, staircases and security checkpoints,” the letter states.

The group on the tour that day stayed for several hours, despite the complex being closed to the public due to COVID-19 protocols.

The committee said Loudermilk has been unresponsive to its requests to meet. The committee had also issued a letter May 19 to Loudermilk requesting a meeting.

But Loudermilk alleges the committee never reached out to him via phone and he only learned of the letter through seeing media reports on TV.

Loudermilk said the group of people referenced by the committee were constituents who were visiting from Georgia. Loudermilk has represented Georgia’s 11th Congressional district since January 2015 and is up for reelection in November.

“What was so awful about this family that caused the committee to make false accusations about them? Well, some were actually wearing baseball caps,” he said in a video posted on his social media account on May 20. “There was nothing unusual or nefarious about this family’s visit to see their congressman.”

Along with the renewed June 15 letter to Loudermilk, the committee also released surveillance clips of Loudermilk’s purported tour. The clip is also edited to include social media video from a man who they say was a part of Loudermilk’s tour. The man on the video clip can be heard making threats on Congress members while descending on the Capitol during the Jan. 6 siege.

“There’s no escape (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi, (Democrat Leader Chuck) Schumer, (Rep. Jerrold) Nadler. We’re coming for you,” the man in the video said. “… They got it surrounded … and they’re coming in, coming in like white on rice for Pelosi, Nadler, even you, AOC (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). We’re coming to take you out and pull you out by your hairs … When I get done with you, you’re going to need a shine on top of that bald head.”

Loudermilk, in an interview outside his office June 15, said no one in the group he met with showed any type of aggression and that he condemns the Capitol attacks. Though the Capitol building had been closed to the public at that time, the public was allowed to meet Congressmen in their offices, Loudermilk said. They had lunch at the Longworth cafeteria.

“These are people that have never been to Washington, D.C., they wanted to visit their congressman. When visitors come they take pictures.” he said. “There were no tours of the Capitol. It was a family that came to visit their congressman. We took them to lunch, took them to the gift shop, showed them around the House office buildings.”

In a June 13 letter to the House Administration Committee — of which Loudermilk is a member — U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said in reviewing the footage of Loudermilk’s tour, he did not consider the activities “suspicious.”

Manger said Loudermilk’s group (approximately 12, which grew to 15) entered the Rayburn building around 11 a.m., and entered other office buildings until past 1 p.m.

“At no time did the group appear in any tunnels that would have led them to the U.S. Capitol,” Manger said, noting that the tunnels were guarded with USCP officers.

Loudermilk, a Republican, accuses the Democrat-dominant committee of trying to spin a political narrative.

He said he also did not find out about the June 15 letter directly, and found out about it through a news release that his scheduler received.

“If someone wants to talk to me, I will talk to them. In my opinion, they’re not interested in getting the truth,” he said. “Why didn’t they just call and talk to me? Why did they go to the press? I’ve got nothing to hide, but I want a little honesty on their part as well.”

When asked if he would talk with the committee if they directly reached out to him, he responded, “We’ll have to see. I want to see an honest discourse from them. (The media) actually finds it out before I do … sees the video before I do.”

The Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack of the U.S. Capitol is tasked with investigating and reporting the facts, circumstances and causes related to the Jan. 6, “domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol,” then issuing a final report to the House containing its findings, conclusions and recommendations for corrective measures.

The Capitol building was damaged during the attack and an estimated 10 deaths were associated with the attack, including one officer who had been hit in the head with a fire extinguisher and pepper sprayed, and four officers took their own lives in the days following the attack.

The Committee asserts that former President Donald Trump prompted and provoked the attack where thousands of people overran police and broke into the Capitol as Congress was preparing to certify the 2020 presidential election results that Joe Biden would be the next president.