Merkley says Capitol rioters stole laptop from his office

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said that rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday ransacked his office and stole a laptop.

The senator posted a video of himself returning to his office after being evacuated when a pro-Trump mob breached barricades and caused mayhem in many congressional offices, as well as the House and Senate chambers.

Merkley said a laptop that had been sitting on a conference table was missing.

The Hill has reached out to Merkley’s office for more details. 

The Oregon Democrat sits on several high-profile Senate committees, including Foreign Relations and Appropriations.

During the video, Merkley said he had left the door unlocked because he would be in and out throughout the course of the evening, as Congress met to certify the Electoral College votes.

Despite the open door, rioters “smashed the door virtually off its hinges,” according to the senator. 

He showed his trashed office, including gifted wall art that had been torn off the walls and a cigarette butt stamped out on a table. A Trump 2020 flag was also left behind.

“You can see the debris is all over the floor,” he added.

The trail of destruction and looting. What happened today was an assault by the domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol, but it was also an assault on our constitution.
[sound on] pic.twitter.com/BrELF7cMz1

— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 7, 2021

Merkley’s office was not the only one ransacked by the mob. A member of the rioters was photographed sitting at a desk in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s suite of offices, an American flag draped on a desk behind him.

Rioters flipped over tables and tore down photographs from the walls. According to MSNBC, the plaque above her door symbolizing her position was also stolen by insurrectionists.

Per @MSNBC, this plaque, that sits above @SpeakerPelosi‘s office door to denote her position and to memorialize her historic place as the first and second female Speaker of the House, is missing and was likely stolen yesterday by Trump’s insurrectionists. pic.twitter.com/agDZ3d1YC7

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) January 7, 2021