Trump says Barry Loudermilk was accused of showing ‘Russian spies’ the Capitol. The accusation was about January 6

Near the end of the Perry, Georgia rally on Saturday, Trump gave Georgia congressman Barry Loudermilk a shout-out and a rewrite. “Weren’t you the man... that you were taking a couple of your constituents, little kids around, showing them the Capitol, and they accused you of showing Russian spies.” He circled back to it a moment later: “He was showing some people that live in Georgia, and they’re two little kids. And they said, they’re Russian spies. These people are sick.”

Nobody needed Russia for this one. In 2022 the House January 6 committee asked Loudermilk about a tour he gave constituents on 5 January 2021, the day before the riot, and some Democrats had accused Republicans of giving “reconnaissance” tours, per CNN. That’s the accusation: January 6, not the Kremlin.

He’s right that Capitol Police cleared Loudermilk, and he didn’t need to make anything up to get there. The Capitol Police chief wrote that “there is no evidence” Loudermilk entered the Capitol with the group, and “we do not consider any of the activities we observed as suspicious.” The video showed “a group of approximately 12 people which later grew to 15 people,” per CNN, and they stayed in the House office buildings. “The family never entered the Capitol building,” Loudermilk and Rep. Rodney Davis said in a joint statement at the time, so by their account nobody was shown the Capitol either.

So: a group of up to 15, not just two little kids, in the office buildings, not the Capitol, accused of reconnaissance, not spying for Russia. Apart from that, it’s a great story. “You made them look so stupid and bad,” Trump told him.