The House subcommittee that oversees the U.S. Capitol Police Department has some questions for USCP Chief J. Thomas Manger about discipline records of two officers who likely perjured themselves during the 2022 Oath Keeper trial â records that were kept from the Oath Keepersâ attorneys and could have been relevant to their defense.
Hereâs what happened and how we got here.
âI am particularly concerned about the USCP Office of Professional Responsibility and the perception of undue political influence of this process,â Loudermilk wrote.
On October 4, 2023, Blaze Media published
the findings of a nearly year-long investigation into the troubling and conflicting October 31, 2022, Oath Keeper trial testimonies of U.S. Capitol Police Officers Harry Dunn and Special Agent David Lazarus. On the eve of publication, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was unseated as speaker of the House.
Because the speakerâs office has the last word on the public release of Capitol closed-circuit TV video footage from the events of January 6, 2021, the lack of a speaker meant we lost permission to use corroborating video showing that Lazarusâ testimony about where he claimed to be and what he claimed to witness that afternoon could not have happened.
New Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) in January finally granted Blaze Media permission to publish CCTV videos showing Special Agent Lazarusâ likely perjury in that trial.
Proof of Perjury | The Truth About January 6www.youtube.com
But long before the initial publication of that story, a former high-ranking Capitol Police officer who asked for anonymity out of fear of retaliation told Blaze Media about a past disciplinary event that cast doubt on Lazarusâ trial testimony and his credibility in general.
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 âterminableâ offense. At the very least, the incident should have been made known to the Oath Keepersâ defense team, which might have used the knowledge to impeach Lazarusâ testimony during cross-examination.
But Lazarus wasnât fired. And the Oath Keepersâ lawyers were left in the dark.
Blaze Media has spent many months trying to acquire that 2016 USCP Office of Professional Responsibility disciplinary report, but our efforts have been met with fierce opposition from USCP leadership and their general counsel,
Thomas âTadâ DiBiase. Capitol Police officials have also resisted giving that OPR report to the congressional committee assigned to oversee the USCP. A senior aide with the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight who has seen the report told Blaze Media that its contents are ânuclear.â
In a letter to Chief Manger dated March 1, Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) demanded not only more complete information about that 2016 disciplinary report but also details about another internal affairs investigation of Lazarus opened in November 2023 as a direct result of Blaze Mediaâs reporting.
Loudermilkâs letter details how his committee has found the results of that new disciplinary investigation to be âdeficientâ in findings and conclusion.
âI am particularly concerned about the USCP Office of Professional Responsibility and the perception of undue political influence of this process,â Loudermilk wrote.
Loudermilk also referred to Oath Keepers trial transcripts to show Lazarusâ testimony conflicted with Capitol CCTV evidence â presented by Blaze Mediaâs reports â and chastised Capitol Police investigators not using those CCTV videos to show the conflict with Lazarusâ testimony.
Loudermilkâs letter also provides an additional detail that, if true, would raise additional questions about federal prosecutorsâ conduct of the Oath Keepersâ trial. According to Loudermilk, OPR investigators ârelied on the statements of a federal prosecutor in the case in which Special Agent Lazarus was called as a witness.â
Blaze Media also learned from a congressional source that federal prosecutors âwere definitely consulted/interviewedâ by Capitol Police investigators during their inquiry in November.
As to the 2016 internal affairs investigation, Loudermilkâs letter to Manger reveals that Lazarus was reported to the OPR for violating âUSCP policy related to alcohol consumption while on duty.â The alleged violation took place âat a National Republican Campaign Committee event in Florida.â Two Dignitary Protection Division agents observed Lazarus across a bar âdrinking what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage with a Member of Congress.â Furthermore, the agents âobserved that Special Agent Lazarus was unsteady on his feet and his speech was slurred.â
Lazarus was immediately sent back to Washington, D.C. When questioned, he denied drinking on the job, claiming he âconsumed 2-3
non-alcoholic mixed drinks on the day in question.â
âIt appears that Agent Lazarus may have intentionally given false or misleading statements,â the OPR investigation concluded.
Multiple USCP sources have told Blaze Media that lying to departmental investigators is a âterminableâ action. Any law enforcement officer who has made false statements to departmental investigators must have those events revealed to trial defense lawyers under
âBrady and Giglioâ precedents.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice:
It is the obligation of federal prosecutors, in preparing for trial, to seek all exculpatory and impeachment information from all the members of the prosecution team. Members of the prosecution team include federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and other government officials participating in the investigation and prosecution of the criminal case against the defendant.
Further:
A prosecutor must disclose information that is inconsistent with any element of any crime charged against the defendant or that establishes a recognized affirmative defense, regardless of whether the prosecutor believes such information will make the difference between conviction and acquittal of the defendant for a charged crime.
All crimes on Capitol property on January 6, 2021, were under the investigative jurisdiction of the Capitol Police. The department was responsible for referring each investigation to the Justice Department and FBI. Blaze Media has learned from Oath Keeper defense attorneys that neither the USCP nor federal prosecutors disclosed Lazarusâ 2016 Office of Professional Responsibility investigation to them before his October 31, 2022, testimony.
Neither the Capitol Police nor the Justice Department made the Capitol CCTV videos of Lazarusâ movements in the Capitol on January 6 available to the Oath Keepers’ defense teams.
Videos discovered by Blaze Media investigative reporters showed conclusively that Lazarus could not have seen the disputed encounter between four Oath Keepers and former USCP Officer Harry Dunn â essential testimony in which Lazarus claimed he witnessed an âantagonisticâ encounter between Dunn and those Oath Keepers âthree or four times.â CCTV video proves, however, that Lazarus was in another Senate office building when that encounter began and did not arrive until several minutes after the Oath Keepers had departed.
The Capitol Police have plenty of explaining to do. This story is developing.
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