Capitol Police said on Friday they were investigating allegations by Democratic members of Congress that Republican lawmakers gave President Donald Trump supporters visits to the Capitol the day before a pro-Trump crowd rebelled there.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, DN.J. said on Tuesday that on January 5 she saw “members of Congress who had groups passing by the Capitol … an acknowledgment for the next day.”
Sherrill promised to hold “the members of Congress who incited this violent crowd, the members of Congress who tried to help our president undermine our democracy”.
She said the tours were highly unusual because of the time just before the invasion of Congress halls and because of Covid-19 restrictions that limited public access to Congress buildings.
On Wednesday, Sherrill and more than 30 other Democrats in Congress, in a letter, asked the Capitol police and House and Senate arms sergeants to investigate “suspicious behavior and access granted to visitors to the Capitol Complex” on January 5th.
Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki told NBC News on Friday, “it is under investigation.”
The January 6 riot caused members of Congress, along with Vice President Mike Pence, to evade ongoing procedures in the Senate and House of Representatives to seek security in safe places, while a horde of Trump supporters stirred the complex.
Five people died during the rebellion, including a Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, who was killed by members of the crowd.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, warned on Friday of possible criminal prosecutions if a member of Congress was found to be an accomplice to the protesters.
“When we talk about security, we have to talk about truth and trust,” Pelosi said at a news conference.
“To serve here with each other, we must trust that people have respect for their oath of office, respect for this institution,” she said.
“If in fact it is found that members of Congress were complicit in this insurrection, if they helped and incited the crime, it may be necessary to take steps beyond Congress in terms of prosecution for that,” said the spokesman.
The violence at the Capitol complex began after Trump spoke to supporters during a rally at Ellipse outside the White House, and encouraged them to march to the Capitol in protest against ongoing procedures to confirm Joe Biden’s election as president.
Trump was impeached by the House on Tuesday for inciting the riot.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, posted on Monday a statement that Rep. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, “met with terrorists who attacked the Capitol and killed an officer. He told them to ‘continue fighting ‘. They heard.”
Swalwell added that, “due to guilt awareness, the sessions deleted this tweet”. But Swalwell included an image of the now-deleted tweet from January 3’s Sessions, which read, “I had a great meeting today with the ‘Stop the Steal’ people at our nation’s Capitol.”
“I encouraged them to continue fighting and assured them that I hope to do MY duty on January 6,” wrote Sessions.
The sessions deleted that tweet on January 7, the day after the riot.
A Sessions spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The riot interrupted confirmation by a joint session of Congress of Biden’s victory at the Electoral College.
After proceedings resumed on the night of January 6, Sessions joined more than 100 Republicans in the House to vote against accepting Biden’s victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania.