Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley ripped the “narrative presented” by the Jan. 6 Committee on Wednesday, calling out their portrayal of former President Donald Trump.
Turley appeared on “Hannity” to discuss his reaction regarding the House Republicans calling out Congress’ initial 2021 investigation of Trump. Fox host Sean Hannity questioned the law professor on an alternative “narrative” that was never provided to the American people about how the events of Jan. 6 unfolded.
Turley responded by echoing Hannity’s conclusion and stated that not only was there no “alternative narrative,” but there were also no “alternative witnesses” that were called in to give their takes on the incident. The law professor stated that while the committee could have been “so much more,” the group was set on a “single narrative” regardless of conflicting information. (RELATED: Reporter Charged For January 6 Coverage Says He Was Put In Shackles, ‘Cage With Meath Dealers’)
“Well, as you know, Sean, there was no alternative narrative presented. There were no alternative witnesses presented. The committee didn’t call in people with opposing accounts. They didn’t explore other explanations, it was this drumbeat on a single narrative and it was produced by this ABC producer they brought in to create this package. The committee could have been so much more, but putting aside the fact that the committee really just refused to consider alternatives to its conclusions. You have this troubling argument, or allegation, that passwords have been withheld, documents are missing,” Turley stated.
Turley continued to call out the committee’s portrayal of Trump as a “crazy person” and how they claimed the former president attempted to take control of his limo despite his driver denying the allegations.
“If you remember with this ‘lunging story’ – the media ran with it. It was on every single network as Trump was portrayed as this truly crazy person, lunging at his own Secret Service driver trying to take control over the beast or the presidential limo that played over and over again. The committee members knew, when people were reporting this, that the driver denied it. This is a law enforcement officer who said it just didn’t happen, and yet they allowed the false narrative to be played out there, including former representative Liz Cheney, at no point did she come forward and say, ‘You know what, let’s be honest here. The person that would be most directly involved, the driver, denies it. So we didn’t hear that. But it’s really consistent with what we did not hear throughout the January 6th hearings, which is any alternative narrative.”
The House Administration Committee’s Oversight Subcommittee, the group responsible for investigating the 2021 Jan. 6 events and the previous Democrat-led inquiry into the events, found in January that before the House transitioned to GOP control in 2023, the Jan. 6 Committee allegedly deleted 117 files containing “critical information.” Republican Georgia Rep. and subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk claimed that he had to request access to the encrypted files from Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s former chairman, following the discovery of the missing files. While Loudermilk was able to gain access, most of the files required a password to access, which he had to request from Thompson.
Loudermilk additionally released an “initial findings” report Monday and stated that the American people “deserve the entire truth about what caused the violent breach” at the Capitol on Jan. 6. The 81-paged report lays out the Jan. 6 Committee’s alleged failures and “politicization” through the activities on and leading up to the infamous day.