First J6 Judiciary subcommittee hearing to probe pipe bomb security failures, missing National Guard

Among the fresh questions being pursued by the new House Judiciary Subcommittee on Jan. 6 is the revelation that the National Guard officers stationed at a metro station near the Republican National Committee were recalled from their posts because of optics, within a block from where a pipe bomb was discovered that day, after being planted the night before.  

The inaugural hearing of the subcommittee on Wednesday afternoon will seek to answer why this happened and how FBI investigators failed to identify and apprehend the alleged pipe bomber for years, despite being in possession of all the evidence agency Director Kash Patel and his team later used to crack the case, the subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, told Just the News.

“There was a National Guard post over by the [Capitol South Metro Station], which if people aren't familiar with DC, that's right across the street from the RNC, where one of the pipe bombs was placed,” the Georgia Republican told the John Solomon Reports podcast. 

“They were supposed to be manning that post 24 hours, but for some reason, they were pulled off that post. If they would have been there the night that the pipe bombs were placed, it's possible they wouldn't have been placed or they would have caught the person, right?” 

Loudermilk said that his investigators found that the reason the officers were recalled from those positions was because of “optics.” 

“We found out that somebody didn't like the optics of having uniform personnel within eyesight of the Capitol dome, so for optics reasons, they were pulled off their post,” Loudermilk said.

Loudermilk said the hearing on Wednesday will be primarily focused on getting to the bottom of how the FBI failed to put the pieces together in the pipe bomb case before President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the bureau, Patel, took over and brought on a new team of agents to revisit the case. 

“Why were resources pulled away instead of continuing to investigate? Did they even have this guy on their radar, which I think it's possible that they did because of just some investigative work we did,” Loudermilk said. “And so what we're hoping to do is be able to bring a little more public attention to the problems that were there.”

Before the suspected pipe bomber was identified and arrested late last year, it was one of the biggest unsolved mysteries related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The security breach, which endangered the life of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris when her motorcade passed within yards of one of the bombs planted at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, had been a focus of Loudermilk’s investigation.

The lack of answers from federal investigators frustrated Congress, which pilloried the FBI in a January report, first for allowing the security failures surrounding the pipe bombs and secondly for the “chaotic response of federal law enforcement after their discovery,” Just the News previously reported. 

The report specifically criticized federal law enforcement for failing to initially discover the bombs, then improperly securing the scene, putting others in danger, including high-ranking public officials like Harris.

The new piece of evidence from Loudermilk again raises questions about how considerations of optics influenced key decision-makers that day.

Loudermilk’s sweeping investigation, which began during his tenure as the Chairman of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight years ago, uncovered evidence that optics were a motivating consideration for several officials that day.

For example, when then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund first requested on Jan. 3 that the Pentagon provide National Guard reinforcements, he said he was turned down because political leaders did not like the optics of troops carrying weapons and guarding the Capitol. Sund said Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving, also denied his National Guard requests for the same reason.