The Department of Justice has decided not to press charges against the nine members of the Late Show team who were detained for ‘illegally’ entering the Capitol last month.
In a statement Monday night, the Capitol Police provided an update on the June 16 incident involving those connected to Stephen Colbert’s talk programme.
According to a statement acquired by Axios, the U.S. Attorney’s office later said they would not be proceeding with the case because they “wouldn’t have been able to get convictions.”
Robert Smigel, best known for creating Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, was one of those detained. Smigel, 62, is a frequent visitor to Colbert’s CBS programme.
Without the consent of Congressional personnel, they were filming a comedic sketch in the Longworth Office Building after business hours.
According to a Capitol police statement, “The United States Capitol Police (USCP) has been collaborating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on the June 16, 2022, Unlawful Entry case that involved a group of nine people connected to The Late Show.”
The USCP detained nine persons on suspicion of breaking the law since the group’s members had been warned repeatedly before entering the congressional buildings that they had to stick with a staff escort inside, but they did not do so.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has just told the United States Capitol Police that it will not be prosecuting the case.
We acknowledge and respect the office’s choice.
Colbert quipped that Triumph the Insult Comic Dog should be prosecuted with “first degree puppetry” and called the analogies between the arrests and the January 6 unrest a “non-surrection.”