The Late Show with the Capitol Police: Crew of Comedian Stephen Colbert Arrested in Capitol
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Last night, Fox News broke the story that the U.S. Capitol Police arrested a group of staffers with CBS's "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" and charged them with unlawful entry. The crew was reportedly shooting a skit dealing with Jan. 6th but ended up with the same charge that has been levied against the vast majority of those arrested after the riot. Fox is reporting that the crew was told to leave but regained entry through a staff member of Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D., Mass). They also interviewed House Intelligence Chair and Jan. 6th Committee member Adam Schiff (D., Cal.). The arrests could put Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an awkward position.
The police confirmed that a group of seven people were arrested. The group reportedly included Robert Smigel, 62, who is best known as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and is a frequent guest on Colbert's CBS show. Others listed are Jake Plunkett, Allison Martinez, Tyrone Dean, Stephen Romond, Nicoletta Green, Brendan Hurley, Josh Comers and David Feldman. Plunkett is a senior producer and director on the show.
The crew reportedly gained entry earlier to interview Schiff, Auchincloss, and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D., Fla.). Later, the Capitol police found them in the halls and they were told that they had to leave. According to Fox, they later regained entry through an aide to Auchincloss, though it is not clear if the representative knew about it or if the aide was mistaken on their purposes. However, they were later spotted filming outside of the offices of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy R-Calif. and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.
As I noted when this story was breaking last night, unlawful entry was the most likely charge because it can apply to remaining in the Capitol even if you were initially granted access for a legitimate purpose. Under 18 U.S.C. 1752, anyone can be arrested who "knowingly enters or remains in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so."
Since the crew was presumably not armed, the lesser potential penalty would apply of up to a year in jail. Jail time would seem highly unlikely though the Biden Administration has held those arrested for the Jan. 6th riot for long periods and sought maximum sentences. Again, the obvious difference in the underlying context justifies the release of the crew. However, since they were arrested in the evening, it would have been common to have been held over night. It is not clear if that was the case from the initial accounts.
This is obviously not a major breach of security and not the equivalent to the Jan. 6th riot which caused extensive damage and interrupted our constitutional process in the transition of power. However, it also highlights how the vast majority of those arrests were not charged with insurrection or even seditious conspiracy but the same charge of unlawful entry or trespass.
If the crew thought it better to ask forgiveness rather than permission in remaining, it was a uniquely poor decision given the security rules after Jan. 6th. This could put some of these members in an awkward position. It is difficult to downplay such security breaches after the January riot. Indeed, Speaker Pelosi has repeatedly attacked Republicans for not taking the new security precautions seriously and imposing hefty fines for failures to comply, including evading metal detectors. She has denounced Republicans for "refusing to adhere to basic precautions keeping members of our Congressional community, including the Capitol Police, safe."
It may be hard to spin these arrests or seek the dropping of the charges in light of statements of the Speaker, though she was also accused of evading the new precautions.
Ironically, Auchincloss has spoken about how important Capitol security is and how Jan. 6th showed that "people get through you, they get behind you and then the whole line breaks."
Here is the statement issued by the police:
"On June 16, 2022, at approximately 8:30 p.m., U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) received a call for a disturbance in the Longworth House Office Building. Responding officers observed seven individuals, unescorted and without Congressional ID, in a sixth-floor hallway. The building was closed to visitors, and these individuals were determined to be a part of a group that had been directed by the USCP to leave the building earlier in the day. They were charged with Unlawful Entry. This is an active criminal investigation, and may result in additional criminal charges after consultation with the U.S. Attorney."
It is not clear what the additional charges might entail or whether there are others who might be charged.
Recently, Colbert joked how he was thrilled to be mentioned in the Jan. 6th hearings. Within 24 hours of the arrest of his crew, Colbert declared "come and get me" to the "neo numbnuts" charged in these cases. He said it was thrilling to "feel so seen" in such moments.
Jonathan Turley
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This is something Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to hear. Notice how easily the same regime that tossed people in jail for over a year won't do it to these people guilty of the same offense. Remember there were people who never entered the Capitol building and still got jail time.
It will be interesting to see what their sentence will be if any. I bet the aide will die on the sword for it and get fired.
We all know what their sentences will be. A slap on the wrist and release. It's the double standard.
I think it gets down to the intent. If your intent is to get some funny video for a tv show that's one thing. If your intent is to subvert Constitution and the will of the American people and/or "hang Mike Pence" that's quite another thing.
Their charges should be dismissed. To quote from the seeded article:
"According to Fox, they later regained entry through an aide to Auchincloss, though it is not clear if the representative knew about it or if the aide was mistaken on their purposes.".
So they should only be charged if they knowingly gave false info to the aide in order to regain access to the building. Other than that, they asked permission for entry and were granted that permission.
One FULL group was found to be there illegally, a PART of another group was found to be there illegally and only one is charged. Thank you for verifying the double standard.
They should be charges the same as everybody is being charged for the Jan 6th protest.
So you are going to ignore that part of the seeded article that states "that the crew was told to leave"?
There is of course more to the story that others wish to ignore. Police would not have arrested them if they had the proper credentials and ID to be in the building.
Like when the police opened the doors for entry on Jan 6th.
We call that a Poindexter!
And who determines intent? Angela Davis?
Did the aide have the ability to grant access, or did he overreach his authority? One way or the other, he granted the permission, taking away their "intent" to UNLAWFULLY enter the building.
Did the insurrectionists ask for and receive permission before entering the Capitol building?
Are you going to ignore the part that after they were told to leave, they got permission to return?
Find a video, or police statement, where they voluntarily invited the protestors into the building. I'll wait.
Watch: Jan. 6 Video That Was Suppressed Shows Capitol Police Officer Waving Protesters Into Building (rumble.com)
That's it, an 8 second out of focus clip? It has as much veritas as the 2 'quotes' in your avatar.
There always is. It's all about fitting the narrative.
Into the BUILDING. Jesus, read my question before posting nonsense shit! The only people charged with trespassing were the people that entered the building.
2 hours, still waiting.
You where given one video entering the building. I gave you the other one for your own viewing pleasure.
Watch videos provided to you.
We'll have to see if more information comes out about this. However, I don't think your argument here is going to work very well. According to the article, the crew was there to interview Schiff, Murphy and Auchincloss, for which Auchincloss most likely had the authority to grant the crew access to the building, assuming procedures were followed. Standard and legitimate government business and all that.
I'm pretty sure, however, Auchincloss had no authority whatsoever, to allow the crew access to his boss's political enemies for the purpose of embarrassing them on national TV. Pelosi herself doesn't have the authority to allow that.
You realize that anyone can watch the video provided and see that it doesn't show anyone opening the door or allowing them to enter. It just shows them walking through a door, nothing else.
I did. There are many videos showing the insurrectionists walking through doors and windows, but they don't show anyone allowing them entry. ALSO, if you pay attention to the "Rumble" videos, you will see that the top video is showing different people from the bottom video. And if you keep watching about half way through the video, it suddenly shows them jerking the door open and entering without anyone else in there to grant them access.
One of your videos doesn't apply, and the other one has been altered to make it look like something it wasn't.
Your summary is the only altering done.
Angela Davis? Really? Is she even still alive? On Jan 6 they were openly declaring their intent chanting "Hang Mike Pence!".
These people were arrested and charged so there's no double standard. They will, and should, be prosecuted. They didn't, however, disrupt an official proceeding, damage the property or assault anybody.
I think that she is still a professor emerita of history of consciousness and feminist studies at UC Santa Cruz..
Her friends writing on Wikipedia describe her thus:
"Angela Yvonne Davis is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz."
Of course, Americans old enough to remember the beginnings of the now all powerful American left can recall the young radical Davis, who was a member of both the Black Panthers and an all-Black branch of the Communist Party. She was involved in the Soledad Brothers case and was charged with murder. She was acquitted for some reason. She then devoted the rest of her life to indoctrination.
On Jan 6 they were openly declaring their intent chanting "Hang Mike Pence!".
The nation has already processed all of that. You are going to lose the midterms in epic fashion, so it might be time to take a seat and relax.
Oh, was Colbert's crew trying to "stop the steal" and help overturn a legitimate election?
Uh, no. They were making a comedy tv show.
No, and neither were the vast majority of those arrested on January 6th
False equivalence.
So you get to walk right in with that excuse? If the Proud Boys only knew.
Nuance is lost in the world of fantasy maintained by the Trump lovers.
You mean the working class? He's all they had.
That's not saying much for either one.
What it really says is that the ruling elite are scum.
That's a long list which includes Donald and your latest BFF Ron Dion.
I mean the people who, despite his obvious attempt to subvert the constitution he was sworn to uphold, continue to maintain that he had no intention to do so and instead flip reality on its head and say that January 6th was nothing more than people exercising their right of assembly.
You know, the people who say that January 6th was less criminal than the BLM movement. That the BLM protesters should have stayed home but see nothing wrong or hurtful with a protest turning into a riot and raid on the Capitol. The same people who willingly parrot untruths about the Big Lie to this day, despite being proven wrong again and again and again. The people who would vote for Trump after he has done all of these things "If that is who my party chooses. "
This is hilarious!
It's not like it was a whatshisname incited failed insurrection/coup.
So you think they should be charged the same?
It's good to see that, in the post Jan 6 era, they take security at the Capitol seriously. It's like joking about bombs in the line at a TSA checkpoint. It's just something you can't do anymore.
Anyone trying to push some sort of false equivalency in an effort to downplay or defend the insurrectionists on January 6th clearly have their heads stuck up their own asses.
But don't worry, right wing conservatives are already hard at work on their best spin, like drunken off-balance tops desperate to turn what even Turley called "obviously not a major breach", into anything to attack Democrats and the Biden administration because the ideological war conservatives are waging has nothing to do with truth or reality.
Filming in hallways require wide-angle lenses and you know how pointy they can be ...
poor trumpsters, so desperate to find something, anything, equivalent to the seditious activities of their fuhrer before the judicial fallout prior to the mid-terms... tsk, tsk, tsk... such a pity...
What a joke