Staffers from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert were arrested late Thursday by U.S. Capitol Police and charged with illegal entry after hours into an office building for the U.S. House of Representatives.
A total of seven individuals were charged with unlawful entry after they were found “unescorted and without Congressional ID” in the hallway of the Longworth House Office Building on the sixth floor, according to a statement from the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) obtained by Fox News.
The Longworth House Office Building is one of five office buildings used by House representatives.
The U.S. Capitol Police had received a call for a disturbance at the building on Thursday around 8:30 p.m. local time, it said in the statement.
“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,” read the statement.
“This is an active criminal investigation, and may result in additional criminal charges after consultation with the U.S. Attorney.”
According to the version of events by Fox News reporter Chad Pergram, the group was in the Cannon House Office Building earlier in the day trying to get interviews while a Jan. 6 committee hearing was underway. At the time, the U.S. Capitol Police “shooed them away because they did not have proper press credentials.”
The group returned to the U.S. Capitol complex at night and one or more members of the group reportedly “took pictures and video” around the offices of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Pergram said Fox News was told.
“They were arrested near Boebert’s office. They were released overnight,” Pergram said on Twitter.
Separately, Fox News host Jesse Watters alleged in a segment that Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) had allowed Colbert’s staff into the Longworth House Office Building.
A spokesperson for CBS told Fox News that some staffers were on-site at the Capitol to “record interviews for a comedy segment on behalf of ‘The Late Show’” on Wednesday and Thursday, for a segment of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
“Their interviews at the Capitol were authorized and pre-arranged through Congressional aides of the members interviewed,” the spokesperson told the outlet. “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.”