Jordan asks Capitol Police for information on Colbert team’s presence

GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Rodney Davis (Ill.) are asking Capitol Police for more information after several staffers from “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” were arrested at the complex last week.

In a letter sent on Monday, the lawmakers ask Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger for all video footage and witness statements related to the arrest of the crew last Thursday.

According to a Fox News report cited in the letter, the Colbert crew interviewed Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), both of whom serve on the Jan. 6 committee, as well as Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.). The team was reportedly let into the building again around 4 p.m. — an action the outlet attributes to an Auchincloss aide — before they were arrested around 8:30 p.m. after a disturbance call. 

Jordan, however, claims “the seven-member team gained access back to the Capitol building with the help of Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.)” — something Fox did not detail in its Friday report.

“These individuals were arrested and charged with unlawful entry after causing ‘disturbances’ at the offices of several Republican members, including ‘banging’ on their office doors,” the lawmakers said.  

“The individuals were originally in the Capitol Complex in connection with the activities of the January 6th Select Committee, but it is unclear whether the Select Committee had any involvement in or awareness of these individuals’ planned harassment of Republican offices.”

CBS had said in a statement that the interviews “were authorized and pre-arranged through Congressional aides of the members interviewed.”

“After leaving the members’ offices on their last interview of the day, the production team stayed to film stand-ups and other final comedy elements in the halls when they were detained by Capitol Police,” the company said Friday.

A spokesman for Auchincloss did not address whether an aide left the crew unaccompanied in the building, as Fox reported.

“The congressman had a scheduled interview with CBS, as did other members of Congress. Our contact with them ended well before the building closed for the evening. We do not condone any inappropriate activity and cannot speak to anything that occurred after hours,” Matt Corridoni said in a statement.

Schiff’s office declined The Hill’s request for comment.

Capitol Police said in its own statement that the individuals were detained and charged with unlawful entry after they responded to calls of a disturbance at the Longworth House building. 

—Updated Tuesday at 12:28 p.m.