A group of staffers from “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” including Robert Smigel, the voice of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, were arrested on Thursday night for unlawful entry at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., Fox News reported Friday.
“Responding officers observed seven individuals, unescorted and without Congressional ID, in a sixth-floor hallway,” the U.S. Capitol police said in a statement to Fox News. “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 police said the investigation remained active and more criminal charges could result after consultation with the U.S. Attorney.
Among the group that was arrested were Smigel, Jake Plunkett, Allison Martinez, Tyrone Dean, Stephen Romond, Nicoletta Green, Brendan Hurley, Josh Comers and David Feldman, Fox News reported, citing an unnamed senior House source. The reason for the discrepancy between the seven individuals referenced by the police and the nine named in the Fox News report was unclear.
The group was taking pictures and video around the offices of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, and Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert from Colorado. The group was arrested near Boebert’s office and released overnight.
CBS said in a statement that “The Late Show” was attempting to record a segment on-site at the Capitol with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and that the interviews were authorized and pre-arranged.
TheWrap has reached out to the U.S. Capitol police for comment.
The arrests came as the Jan. 6 committee conducts hearings into the 2021 insurrection that took place at the Capitol in support of former President Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Colbert joked that he’s happy The Proud Boys, the right-wing extremist group that helped storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are mad at him after his jokes about the request by their indicted leader, Joseph Biggs, to have his trial be moved to another jurisdiction.
The host told his studio audience, “You know folks, I do a lot of jokes about the violent fascists. But, to hear that even one of them noticed? I… I feel so seen! You hate me, you really hate me.”
He went on to quip, “They want to move the trial to some place where The Proud Boys have a better reputation. Like 1930s Berlin.”