Police Thursday night arrested seven people at the US Capitol, saying they were unaccompanied and had no proper identification at the time the building was closed to visitors.
The group was part of the production team that was at the Capitol building Wednesday and Thursday to film interviews for a comedy segment featuring Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a spitting dog puppet, for ” The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” according to a statement from CBS.
U.S. Congressional Police received a call around 8:30 p.m. Thursday about a disturbance in the Longworth House Office Building, authorities said Friday. Officers saw seven undocumented and unassisted people in the sixth-floor hallway, they said.
Capitol Police said the group was told to leave the building earlier in the day. The group members were charged with illegal entry.
“This is an active investigation and may lead to additional criminal charges in consultation with United States attorneys general,” the statement from the Capitol Police said.
Conference hearings were held on January 6, 2021, the attack on the building, when supporters of President Donald J. Trump violently stormed the complex.
In a statement released after Thursday’s arrest, CBS said interviews at the Capitol had been authorized and pre-arranged through congressional aides on the members interviewed.
“After leaving the members’ offices for their final interview of the day, the production team stayed to shoot the stand-up and other final comedy elements in the hall as they were detained by the Capitol Police,” the statement said.
The names of the group members were not released by Capitol Police or CBS. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia could not be immediately reached late Friday to discuss the arrest.
