On Monday night’s “Late Show,” Stephen Colbert finally opened up about the arrests of seven of his crew and production members, who were arrested and charged with being in an unauthorized area of the U.S. Capitol.
Colbert described the arrests as a “very professional” interaction between staff and overly “cautious” Capitol Police in his opening monologue on the show. Watch Colbert discussing the incident during his show.
The host opened the show with a line saying about how his week has been going, “Well, I had an interesting one and some members of my staff had a memorable one.”
He then made a joke about the fact that “Triumph the insult comic dog” was also arrested and called the situation as “first-degree puppetry.”
“The Capitol police were just doing their job, my staff was just doing their job, everyone was very professional, everyone was very calm,” he continued. “My staffers were detained, processed and released. A very unpleasant experience for my staff.”
Thursday of last week, a group of seven of Colbert’s staff were arrested after unlawfully entering the Longworth House Office Building. Most notably, the puppeteer that pilots “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog” was among the group – meaning that CBS’ Triumph the puppet was essentially arrested.
“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.
“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.”
Colbert then attacked right-wing pundits saying he was “shocked that he has to explain the difference, but 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.”
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Colbert also didn’t spare journalists that covered the story. He called some of their coverage a “shameful and grotesque insult to the memory of everyone who died” on January 6.
U.S. Capitol Police responded to a disturbance call at the Longworth House Office Building around 8:30 PM on Thursday.
“Responding officers observed seven individuals, unescorted and without Congressional ID, in a sixth-floor hallway,” 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 seven Colbert staffers are being charged with unlawful entry. Earlier that day, they had interviewed members of the January 6 Select Committee: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif), Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FLA), and Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MASS).
Allegedly, an aide for Auchincloss let the staff back into the building where they were left to their own means for several hours.
It’s ironic that the staffers were arrested for the same charge that many participants in January 6 were arrested for. Their treatment will likely be totally different, though. Do you think that they should have the book thrown at them too? Let us know your thoughts below.
