After charges against the Colbert Nine crew were dropped this week, security footage of their actions on Capitol grounds prior to their arrest was leaked online.
The video showed some of Stephen Colbert’s comedy crew messing around in an unauthorized hallway of a congressional building.
The incident occurred on June 16, leading to the crew’s arrest for unlawful entry. The Justice Department dropped charges against all nine staffers Monday.
Video obtained by @JustTheNews shows the Colbert 9 goofing off in an unauthorized area of a Capitol building outside the office of @RepMTG https://t.co/E9gJqnl5Nw pic.twitter.com/ncOHcHkrjB
— Stephen Horn (@stephenehorn) July 21, 2022
A staffer was seen hanging a poster outside GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene‘s office in the House Longworth Office Building while another filmed the antic, Just the News reported.
Another member of the crew held up a puppet named Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, which had appeared on Colbert’s late-night comedy program.
The congresswoman tweeted her response to the news Thursday.
The Stephen Colbert crew targeted my office and was arrested by Capitol Police because they were not supposed to be in the building.
The DOJ refuses to prosecute.
Two-tiered justice system. https://t.co/MgGJO3ml0E
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene?? (@RepMTG) July 21, 2022
The footage was captured around 8 p.m. that evening, before the group’s arrest.
A staffer for a Democratic congressman called the complex’s emergency number at approximately 8:26 p.m. to notify the Capitol Police of the commotion outside his office, according to a letter written by Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger.
The letter outlined the timeline and information of the Colbert Nine’s actions in the Capitol Complex, which consists of 20 buildings.
They were reportedly filming comedic bits for Colbert’s “Late Show,” but police didn’t find them filming at the time officers arrived.
In addition to banging on doors and shouting in hallways, the TV crew was pretending to leave notes under GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert‘s office door.
The imaginary notes were invitations to a “cocaine orgy,” which was a reference to GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s claim of receiving orgy invitations from other congressmen. He also alleged his fellow lawmakers used cocaine while on the job.
The Colbert Nine were repeatedly told by police they could not roam the Capitol without an authorized escort. They were found to have violated the complex regulations twice that day.
The crew traveled to the Capitol to interview Congress members about the January 6 hearings.
Four days after his staff’s arrest, Colbert commented on the news during the opening monologue of his show’s next episode.
The late-night host said his “professional” staff committed nothing but “first-degree puppetry,” despite “insurrection” claims.
“It is unfortunate that despite all of the evidence the Department presented, including that the group or its leader had been told several times that they could not be in the buildings without an escort, that the U.S. Attorney’s office declined to prosecute any members of the group for Unlawful Entry,” Manger wrote of the investigation’s findings.
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