Rep. Mikie Sherill (D-NJ) said she saw Republican members of Congress leading groups of people on what she called “reconnaissance tours” of the U.S. Capitol one day before the January 6 insurrection by mobs of pro-Trump domestic terrorists. She did not name those members.
Said Sherill during a live webcast: “We can’t have a democracy if members of Congress are actively helping the president overturn the elections results. And so not only do I intend to see that the president is removed and never runs for office again and doesn’t have access to classified material, I also intend to see that those members of Congress who abetted him; those members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on Jan. 5 – a reconnaissance for the next day; those members of Congress that incited this violent crowd; those members of Congress that attempted to help our president undermine our democracy; I’m going to see they are held accountable, and if necessary, ensure that they don’t serve in Congress.”
Many Democratic members who had their offices vandalized, including House Majority Whip James Clyburn have suggested that rioters had inside intel because they were able to quickly find unmarked offices.
CBS News reports: “Clyburn suggested his inner office was targeted by the mob because there was ‘activity outside of my inner office where most people don’t know where that is.’ … ‘The office with my name on the door was not touched. But the office where I do most of my work in, they were on that floor and outside that door,’ the South Carolina Democrat said. Clyburn also said he felt something was ‘amiss’ Wednesday morning when he arrived at the Capitol and ‘the perimeter had not been established.’ … ‘There were no security people on the steps. They were all out in a place which I thought gave low security,’ he said, adding, ‘They were not just derelict. You could say they were complicit.'”
