On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump remarked on the treatment of a group of staff members of Stephen Colbert’s late night talk show after they were arrested for unlawfully entering a congressional office building. The staffers were arrested, but federal prosecutors declined to prosecute them on Monday.
The group of nine staffers were arrested last month after ignoring instructions to stay with the staff guide while in congressional buildings. “Members of the group had been told several times before they entered the Congressional buildings that they had to remain with a staff escort inside the buildings and they failed to do so,” police said in a press release.
On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Wow! Prosecutors have just dropped all charges against ratings challenged Colbert Show staffers, who entered the Capitol illegally, disregarded police warnings, wouldn’t leave the premises, and were very loud and disruptive late into the evening, with no security present as is mandated by law. These Radical Left lunatics, from a failing show, were treated so differently than the Unselects are treating so many of our great American Patriots. NOT FAIR!”
A statement from the U.S. attorney’s office read, “After a comprehensive review of all of the evidence and the relevant legal authority, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has determined that it cannot move forward with misdemeanor charges of unlawful entry against the nine individuals who were arrested on June 16, 2022, at the Longworth Office Building.”
“The individuals, who entered the building on two separate occasions, were invited by Congressional staffers to enter the building in each instance and were never asked to leave by the staffers who invited them, though, members of the group had been told at various points by the U.S. Capitol Police that they were supposed to have an escort,” it said.
“The Office would be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these invited guests were guilty of the crime of unlawful entry because their escort chose to leave them unattended,” the statement continued. “We do not believe it is probable that the Office would be able to obtain and sustain convictions on these charges.”
“The defendants no longer will be required to appear for a scheduled hearing in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on July 20, 2022,” the office concluded.
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