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A House GOP report alleged that the January 6 Committee deleted
or neglected to preserve “voluminous records,” including 117 encrypted files.

Here’s a breakdown of the situation:

<><>Allegation: The House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), claimed in a December 2024 report that the previous select committee “neglected or withheld evidence from its Final Report and deleted voluminous records it should have preserved”. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) specified the deletion of “over 100 documents and testimonies”.

<><>The Files: The specific number cited in some reports is 117 encrypted files that the Republican-led subcommittee staff were reportedly able to find and decrypt during their investigation.

<><>Committee Response: Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who chaired the Jan. 6 committee, dismissed the allegations, stating that all archived records had been sent to the House Administration Committee as required by law and calling the claims “misrepresentations”.

Context: The Jan. 6 committee transferred all of its records to the National Archives when it concluded its work at the end of the 117th Congress in late 2022. The current GOP-led subcommittee has been reviewing these archived materials and claims some evidence was mishandled or missing, a claim which the prior committee’s members dispute.