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Capitol Police said on Friday they were investigating allegations by Democratic members of Congress that Republican lawmakers gave tours of the Capitol to supporters of President Donald Trump a day before a pro-Trump mob arrived. riot.
Representative Mikie Sherrill, DN.J. said Tuesday that on Jan. 5, she saw “members of Congress who had groups pass through Capitol … recognition for the next day.”
Sherrill vowed to hold accountable “the members of Congress who instigated this violent mob, those members of Congress who tried to help our president undermine our democracy.”
She said the visits were highly unusual both because of the timing just before the congress halls were invaded and because of the Covid-19 restrictions that limit public access to Congress buildings.
On Wednesday, Sherrill and more than 30 other Congressional Democrats, in a letter, called on Capitol Hill Police and Acting House and Senate Sergeants-at-Arms to investigate “suspicious behavior and access granted to visitors to the Capitol complex “on January 5. .
Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki told NBC News on Friday “he is under investigation.”
The January 6 riot prompted members of Congress, along with Vice President Mike Pence, to flee ongoing proceedings in the Senate and House of Representatives to seek safety in safe places, while a horde of Trump supporters ransacked the compound.
Five people died in the riot, including Capitol Hill police officer Brian Sicknick, who was killed by members of the mob.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Warned Friday of possible criminal prosecution if a congressman had encouraged the rioters.
“When we talk about security, we have to talk about truth and trust,” Pelosi said at a press conference.
“In order to serve here with each other, we have to trust that people keep their oath of office, respect this institution,” she said.
“If in fact it is found that members of Congress were complicit in this insurgency, if they aided and abetted the crime, it may be necessary to take action beyond Congress in terms of prosecution for this,” he said. declared the speaker.
Violence at the Capitol complex began after Trump spoke to supporters at a rally on the Ellipse outside the White House and urged them to march to the Capitol in protest against ongoing proceedings to confirm the election of Joe Biden as president.
Trump was impeached by the House on Tuesday for inciting a riot.
Representative Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, tweeted on Monday a claim that Representative Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas, had “encountered terrorists who attacked the Capitol and killed an officer. He told them to ‘continue to fight. “They listened.”
Swalwell, added that “Out of guilt, the sessions deleted this tweet.” But Swalwell included an image of the now deleted tweet from January 3 Sessions, which read: “We had a great meeting today with people from ‘Stop the Steal’ at our nation’s Capitol.”
“I encouraged them to keep fighting and assured them that I looked forward to doing MY homework on January 6,” Sessions wrote.
Sessions deleted this tweet on January 7, a day after the riot.
A Sessions spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The riot interrupted the confirmation by a joint session of Congress of Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
After business resumed on the evening of Jan.6, Sessions joined more than 100 Republicans in the House to vote against accepting Biden’s victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
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