Nancy Pelosi's Select Committee investigating the January 6 riot has evidence that sitting members of Congress gave tours to people who stormed the Capitol, Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi revealed on Thursday.
He said some protesters had been shown the building the day before it was breached.
The Mississippi Democrat gave new details on the ongoing probe into the Capitol riot in an interview with the Washington Post exactly one year after the deadly events unfolded.
'We have information that members hosted people who came to Washington on that day in their office. We have information that before the actual certification, people who came earlier were given tours in the Capitol,' Thompson said.
Thursday's interview marks the first time a member of the panel confirmed that sitting lawmakers or their offices gave tours to the rioters. It's not clear who they were or that the members of Congress were aware people would break into the building on January 6.
Thompson continued, 'We have pictures of members [of Congress] taking pictures with people who came to the rally. So members in various forms or another engaged in people who came.'
'Now there’s a smaller subset of members that have been identified who probably did more to encourage the ‘Stop the Steal’ part of coming to Washington that we’ll continue the work on.'
The interviewer asked Thompson to clarify whether the tours were given on January 5.
'Yes,' the chairman answered. 'Before COVID, it was not unusual for members of Congress to give guided tours of the Capitol.'
'As to whether or not those tours morphed into giving people directions where Speaker Pelosi's office would be for instance, or Whip Clyburn's office, or leader Hoyer's office, we’re just not sure, but we know there was member participation.
'And that's part of the body of our work, to see whether or not we can connect the dots between those tours and the people who broke into the Capitol.'
The Capitol complex had been closed to the public in May 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But Thompson said elected officials were able to escort people exempt from the public health rule.
'Members still had exclusive ability to bring guests into the Capitol,' he said.
Less than two weeks after the riot reports emerged that the Capitol Police were investigating allegations made by Democrat lawmakers who said they saw their GOP colleagues giving tours of the Capitol to supporters in the days before Donald Trump's January 6 Stop The Steal rally.
Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a military veteran representing New Jersey's 11th Congressional District, said in a Facebook Live stream in the following days that she saw 'members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on Jan. 5 for reconnaissance for the next day.'
Tennessee Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen told CNN last January that he saw Colorado GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert giving 'large' group tours before the insurrection.
'We saw Boebert taking a group of people for a tour sometime after the 3rd and before the 6th,' Cohen said at the time. 'Now whether these people were people that were involved in the insurrection or not, I do not know.'
Thompson recently revealed that his panel has 'a lot of information' on communications between January 6 rioters and lawmakers though there was 'no real knowledge' of those lawmakers showing them the Capitol.
He also specified that there was no evidence of federal representatives conspiring with those who broke into the Capitol or offering them substantial assistance.
'Some took pictures with people who came to the ‘Stop the Steal‘ rally. Some, you know, allowed them to come and associate in their offices and other things during that whole rally week. So, there's some participation,' Thompson told Meet The Press on Sunday.
'We don't have any real knowledge that I'm aware of of people giving tours. We heard a lot of that, but we're still, to be honest with you, reviewing a lot of the film that the House administration and others have provided the committee.'
Thompson said lawmakers gave tours to people who participated in the Capitol riot despite COVID-19 rules prohibiting the public from the complex
His committee investigating the Capitol riot is looking into whether 'we can connect the dots between those tours and the people who broke into the Capitol'
So far just two sitting members of Congress have been asked to voluntarily come before the committee, GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Scott Petty. Perry has declined to appear before the panel while Jordan has publicly sought to discredit it on multiple occasions.
It's not clear if the committee has the legal authority to subpoena them, Thompson explained, but said it was something they were actively looking into.
'If we can get the necessary authorities and assurances that go with it, we'll do it,' he said.
Thompson signaled shortly before the new year that the committee would be moving into a more public phase.
He described a potential plan for holding a marathon series of 'late evening' prime-time televised hearings, beginning 'in a month or so.'
'You will probably see two, three or four hearings in a row. So, I'm talking about like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,' Thompson said. 'We're not talking about one hearing one week, one hearing another week.'
The committee is set to release an interim report on their findings in the summer before revealing their final conclusions sometime in the fall.
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