Blaze Media investigation triggers congressional inquiry into alleged Capitol Police perjury

A Blaze Media investigation has triggered a congressional inquiry into alleged U.S. Capitol Police perjury, according to a Friday analysis by Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker.

What are the details?

U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) — who chairs the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, which has jurisdiction over Capitol Police — penned a March 1 letter to USCP Chief J. Thomas Manger, Baker noted.

The four-page missive demanded two things: more complete information about a 2016 disciplinary report concerning Special Agent David Lazarus — and details about an internal affairs investigation of Lazarus last November that stemmed directly from Blaze Media’s reporting, Baker wrote.

Loudermilk's letter notes that on Nov. 7, 2023, Lazarus was referred to the USCP Office of Professional Responsibility "for allegedly not being truthful in testimony in a high-profile criminal court case involving an incident in the Capitol building on January 6, 2021."

In the letter, Loudermilk asserted what Baker's investigation of Lazarus last October uncovered: Lazarus could not have witnessed on Jan. 6 what he testified to have seen during the Oath Keepers trial since video evidence shows Lazarus was in another part of the Capitol at the time.

Proof of Perjury | The Truth About January 6youtu.be

What's more, neither Capitol Police nor the Justice Department made the Capitol CCTV videos of Lazarus’ movements in the Capitol on January 6 available to the Oath Keepers' defense teams, Baker said.

More from Baker's Friday analysis:

Loudermilk’s letter also provides an additional detail that, if true, would raise additional questions about federal prosecutors’ conduct of the Oath Keepers’ trial. According to Loudermilk, OPR investigators “relied on the statements of a federal prosecutor in the case in which Special Agent Lazarus was called as a witness.”

Blaze Media also learned from a congressional source that federal prosecutors “were definitely consulted/interviewed” by Capitol Police investigators during their inquiry in November.

Loudermilk's letter adds that OPR interviewed Lazarus on Dec. 18, 2023, and when an investigating USCP officer asked Lazarus if he committed perjury in his testimony, Lazarus responded, “No.”

But Loudermilk wasn't done with Lazarus.

Baker also reported in his Friday analysis that a former high-ranking USCP officer — who asked for anonymity out of fear of retaliation — had told Blaze Media about a "past disciplinary event that cast doubt on Lazarus’ trial testimony and his credibility in general."

More from Baker's analysis:

In 2016, Lazarus, who was assigned to the Dignitary Protection Division, was involved in the cover-up of an incident in which he was discovered to be drinking on duty. Lying in an internal affairs investigation is a “terminable” offense. At the very least, the incident should have been made known to the Oath Keepers’ defense team, which might have used the knowledge to impeach Lazarus’ testimony during cross-examination.

But Lazarus wasn’t fired. And the Oath Keepers’ lawyers were left in the dark.

Baker added in his Friday analysis that USCP leadership and their general counsel, Thomas “Tad” DiBiase, have resisted the efforts of Blaze Media — and even those of Loudermilk's committee — to acquire the 2016 OPR disciplinary report on Lazarus. However, Baker also reported that a senior aide with Loudermilk's committee has seen the OPR report and said its contents are “nuclear.”

In regard to the allegation that Lazarus was drinking alcohol while on duty in 2016, Loudermilk's letter revealed that despite the OPR sustaining the allegation — as well as approval of that recommendation by the USCP Inspector for the USCP Dignitary Protection Division Commander — it was all overruled by the USCP Office of General Counsel. Loudermilk's letter also said "it appears that Agent Lazarus may have intentionally given false or misleading statements" during the 2016 investigation.

In addition, Baker added in his Friday analysis that Blaze Media has learned from Oath Keeper defense attorneys that neither the USCP nor federal prosecutors disclosed Lazarus’ 2016 OPR investigation to them before his October 31, 2022, testimony.

Now what?

Loudermilk concluded his letter to USCP Chief Manger with the following:

The incomplete OPR investigation regarding Special Agent Lazarus’ testimony regarding the incident in the Capitol on January 6, 2021, coupled with the OGC overruling the recommendation of OPR and a Division Commander regarding Special Agent Lazarus’ violation of USCP policy, and the possibility Special Agent Lazarus made false statements, raises significant questions about USCP’s internal accountability and discipline structure. The lack of a robust investigation into the allegations that Agent Lazarus potentially lied under oath is unacceptable.

To better understand USCP’s internal processes and guidelines for discipline, I ask that you provide the Subcommittee with the complete USCP guidelines for OPR discipline and any additional information that informed the outcomes of these OPR investigations.

Capitol Police on Friday didn't immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment on Baker's latest analysis.

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