A growing number of Democratic lawmakers have alleged that some of their Republican congressional colleagues aided and abetted a mob of mostly pro-Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol last week.
Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan claimed Wednesday that an investigation is underway over allegations “members of Congress” gave rioters detailed tours of the Capitol ahead of the insurrection prior to the riot.
“All of that is being reviewed, both people on the campus who were here and behavior before and after, a lot of videos floating around out there,” Ryan told NPR. “That’s all going to be considered, including anybody that may have been on the inside, including members of Congress.”
Ryan told reporters earlier that the suspicious tours consisted of “handfuls” of people.
“You know, enough to be a group,” he said. “It wasn’t a one-on-one or a small family.” He added that he was aware of “a couple” of alleged allies of rioters but was waiting on verification.
Calls to the U.S. Capitol Police for comment were not immediately returned.
By Wednesday afternoon, 30 House lawmakers had signed on to a letter asking Capitol security officials for information on which lawmakers or their staff allowed visitors into the Capitol on Jan. 5, the day before the violence. Among other things, the letter also asked for information on whether logbooks were kept and updated of visitors, whether outside law enforcement agencies had requested copies of them, the criteria for entry into the Capitol, and whether facial recognition software is used for visitors entering the complex.
The letter, addressed to the acting House sergeant-at-arms, the acting Senate sergeant-at-arms, and the acting chief of Capitol Police, claimed that several lawmakers and staff with military backgrounds who are “trained to recognize suspicious activity” witnessed “an extremely high number of outside groups in the complex” the day before the riot took place.
“This is unusual for several reasons, including the fact that access to the Capitol Complex has been restricted since public tours ended in March of last year due to the pandemic,” the letter read.
Though some Republicans like Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama have been called out by Democrats for helping incite violence, there has been no proof so far that any member of Congress directly helped carry out last Wednesday’s attack. Brooks, as well as Arizona Republican Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, have all denied any involvement in last week’s attack. Right-wing activist Ali Alexander claimed he colluded with the congressmen in a now-deleted video on Periscope found by the Project on Government Oversight.
While he didn’t sign the letter, Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond alluded in a floor speech during President Trump’s impeachment hearing that something sinister may have been going on with members of the GOP.
“Some of my colleagues, some of which may be co-conspirators, in their latest attempt to placate and please this unfit president, suggest we shouldn’t punish Trump for his actions in order to unify the country. That is the climax of foolishness,” Richmond said. “Let me suggest to them. Stand up, man up, woman up and defend this constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic, including Donald J. Trump.”
About an hour earlier, Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who did sign the letter, warned that trust among House members had eroded following allegations that some members may have helped coordinate the attack. But, like Richmond, she couched her comments and made vague accusations.
“There’s no trust within the chamber, within our colleagues, even as we get security briefings, there’s not trust that we don’t have people within our own membership of Congress” who helped to plan, coordinate, and execute the attack, Jayapal said on ABC’s The View.
She added that the “insurrectionists” were “extremely well planned” and pointed to the four bombs planted on Capitol grounds, one at the Republican National Committee, and one at the Democratic National Committee “in order to divert the attention from that exact moment from when the insurrectionists reached the Capitol.”
Jayapal said any lawmaker who contributed to the disturbing display should be punished. House Democrats on Monday introduced resolutions to censure, investigate, and remove House Republicans who played a role in inciting last week’s attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
Freshman Rep. Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, led 47 lawmakers in sponsoring the resolution. “We must hold these Republicans accountable for their role in this insurrection at our nation’s Capitol as part of a racist attempt to overthrow the election results. There must be consequences,” Bush said in a statement.
During a 13-minute Facebook video on Tuesday, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey Democrat, claimed that some Republicans in Congress had given groups a “reconnaissance” tour of the Capitol on Jan. 5, 24 hours ahead of the attack. She vowed to hold Trump accountable for inciting the riot but also put blame on her allies in Congress as well.
“I also intend to see that those members of Congress who abetted him, those members of Congress who had groups coming through the capitol that I saw on Jan. 5 for reconnaissance for the next day, those members of Congress who incited the violent crowd, those members of Congress that attempted to help our president undermine our democracy, I’m going to see that they’re held accountable,” she said.
Sherrill didn’t identify the colleagues she was referring to or how she knew they were connected to the riots but told reporters she had passed her information along to authorities.
Her allegations came on the same night that New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told constituents on an Instagram Live video that she feared some of her Republican colleagues would have disclosed her location during the Jan. 6 riot.
“I myself did not even feel safe going to that extraction point because there were QAnon and white supremacist sympathizers and, frankly, white supremacist members of Congress in that extraction point, who I know, and who I had felt would disclose my location and allow me to, who would create opportunities to allow me to be hurt, kidnapped,” she said.
