OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
Outspoken liberal comedian Stephen Colbert is breaking his silence after his production crew was shamefully caught illegally entering the U.S. Capitol and harassing Republicans.
The crew members were arrested and charged with being in an unauthorized area of a U.S. Capitol building.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued that “producers from Stephen Colbert’s show on CBS committed insurrection at the United States Capitol.”
Colbert attempted to downplay the arrests. He claimed the illegal act was “very professional.”
He even argued that they did not commit an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol because “an insurrection involves disrupting the lawful actions of Congress and howling for the blood of elected leaders – all to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.”
The left-wing CBS host proceeded to blame President Donald Trump for the events of January 6th at the U.S. Capitol.
Colbert even whined that his staff was not in the main Capitol building.
“After they’d finished their interviews, [my staffers] were doing some last-minute puppetry and jokey make-em-ups in a hallway, when Triumph and my folks were approached and detained by Capitol Police,” Colbert said.
He continued, “A lot of paperwork for the Capitol police but a fairly simple story… until the next night when a couple of the TV people started claiming that my puppet squad had quote, ‘committed insurrection’ at the U.S. Capitol building.”
Referring to the weekend, Colbert said, “Well, I had an interesting one and some members of my staff had a memorable one.”
“My staffers were detained, processed and released. A very unpleasant experience for my staff.”
“The Capitol police were just doing their job, my staff was just doing their job, everyone was very professional, everyone was very calm,” he said.
The incident is still an active criminal investigation despite Colbert’s attempt to downplay the situation.
More on this story via Fox News:
On Thursday, a group dubbed “the Colbert Seven” were arrested for unlawful entry in the Longworth House Office Building.
Among those arrested was Robert Smigel, the puppeteer for “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog,” a character on CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”…
Colbert accused journalists covering the story of looking for an excuse to talk about something other than the Jan. 6 hearings and said drawing an equivalence to the rioters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 is a “shameful and grotesque insult to the memory of everyone who died.”
He said it “obscenely trivializes the service and courage the Capitol police showed on that terrible day.” He joked that perhaps there was a vast conspiracy by his staffers to overthrow the government with a rubber rottweiler – a reference to the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog puppet.
The staffers were arrested after U.S. Capitol Police responded to a call about a disturbance in the Longworth House Office Building around 8:30 p.m.
“Responding officers observed seven individuals, unescorted and without Congressional ID, in a sixth-floor hallway,” the police said in a 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.”
The Capitol Police said the individuals were charged with unlawful entry. “This is an active criminal investigation, and may result in additional criminal charges after consultation with the U.S. Attorney,” the USCP added.
