Former President Donald Trump accused the Democrat-led Jan. 6 House Select Committee of “illegally” destroying records and documents.
Trump, whom the Biden administration has charged with mishandling classified documents, made the claim in a Truth Social post on Tuesday night.
“So now that I have full Subpoena Power because of the Freedom of Speech Sham Indictment by Crooked Joe Biden, Deranged Jack Smith, and the DOJ, it has just been reported that the Unselect January 6th Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs has illegally destroyed their Records and Documents,” Trump wrote.
“This is unthinkable, and the Fake Political Indictment against me must be immediately withdrawn. The system is Rigged & Corrupt, very much like the Presidential Election of 2020. We are a Nation in Decline!”
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Committee on House Administration, told Fox News that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partisan Jan. panel, which was comprised of Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans in the previous Congress, failed to adequately preserve documents, data, and video depositions.
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Loudermilk said that he was contacted by a defense attorney, who needed access to key information in one of the video depositions. The committee then realized it did not have the videos he was seeking.
A group called the “Blue Team,” within the Jan. 6 subcommittee committee, had been directed to investigate security failures at the Capitol, according to Loudermilk. The lawmaker told Fox News that sources told him the Blue Team was “shut down” by the panel to focus on placing blame on Trump.
The former president last week pleaded not guilty on charges of leading a criminal conspiracy that, prosecutors claim, sought to defraud the American people by overturning the 2020 election.
Trump also has been charged in two other criminal cases, including one that accuses him of mishandling classified documents after leaving office.
On Friday, the office of special counsel Jack Smith flagged a threatening social media post from Trump in a late-night court filing. Prosecutors argued that it suggests the former president might intimidate witnesses by improperly disclosing confidential evidence received from the government.
Trump on Tuesday vowed to continue talking about his criminal cases even as prosecutors sought a protective order to limit the evidence that he and his team could share.