- House President Nancy Pelosi said Friday that members of Congress could be prosecuted if an investigation shows they were accomplices in the Capitol riots.
- “If they have assisted and administered the crime, action may need to be taken beyond Congress in terms of prosecution,” Pelosi told a news conference.
- Pelosi also noted that one riot in a “Camp Auschwitz” sweater was captured on camera and described him as a “punk”.
- “To dress this punk with that shirt and his anti-Semitism that he boasted about, to be part of a white supremacist raid on this Capitol, we need to undergo an investigation into the action,” Pelosi said.
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House President Nancy Pelosi said Friday that members of Congress could be prosecuted if an investigation shows they cooperated in the riots in the Capitol last week.
“If it is actually found that members of Congress were complicit in this uprising, if they helped and administered the crime, then action might need to be taken beyond Congress in connection with prosecution for it,” Pelosi said in a news release. conference.
The California lawmaker’s warning comes after some House Democrats said people inside, such as lawmakers and police officers, may have helped carry out the attack.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey suggested earlier this week that some lawmakers were complicit in the siege. Although she did not name any names, Sherrill said she saw members of Congress “having groups through the Capitol, which I saw on Jan. 5, for reconnaissance for the next day.”
Pelosi announced Friday that his Ret. Lieutenant General Russel Honoré to lead a review of security at the Capitol.
“When we talk about security, we need to talk about truth and trust. To be able to serve one another here, we need to trust that people have respect for their oath of office, respect for this institution,” she said. “We must also have the truth, and it will be looked at.”
It’s been more than a week since supporters of President Donald Trump violently stormed the Capitol building and forced Congress to close. The siege left five people, including one Capitol police officer, dead. The House charged Trump on Wednesday with the support of 10 House Republicans on one charge of inciting insurgency.
The FBI and the Department of Justice said Tuesday that they have launched an investigation into the incident and expect the number of arrests to “grow to hundreds”.
During her news conference, Pelosi singled out one riot that was extensively captured on camera in a sweater with the words ‘Camp Auschwitz’ on it, a reference to Nazi Germany’s concentration camps that killed more than a million Jews. The rioter, a 56-year-old man named Robert Keith Packer, was arrested on Wednesday.
“To put on this punk with the shirt and his anti-Semitism that he boasted about, to be part of a white supremacist raid on this Capitol, we need to undergo an investigation into the action,” Pelosi said. responsibility to those who were part of organizing and encouraging it. ‘
The House speaker also noted that lawmakers have a strong interest in launching a 9/11-type commission to investigate last week’s offense.
Security measures at the Capitol have been tightened in preparation for inaugurated President Joe Biden on January 20, as FBI officials warned of more possible violence.