Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) confirmed the account by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) that insurrectionists were doing a “reconnaissance tour” with a member of Congress the day before the attack.
Rep. Sherrill did a 13-minute video on Facebook Tuesday evening recalling seeing the incident.
“I can confirm that,” Rep. Maloney told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace. “I don’t have firsthand knowledge of it, but I spoke to a member who saw it personally, and he described it with some alarm. Some of our new colleagues, the same ones, of course, who believe in conspiracy theories and who want to carry guns into the House chamber, who today, today, have been yelling at Capitol Police, shoving them. Who a week ago were risking their lives to save ours. This conduct is beyond the pale, and it extends to some of this interaction with the very people who attacked the Capitol, and that’s why the issue of making sure every member of Congress now goes through a metal detector, which has never happened before, is so important for the security of the inauguration and for our proceedings and it’s a sad reality that we find ourselves at a place where the enemy is within, and we cannot trust our own colleagues.”
“So, I just want to burrow into this fact. It’s so startling. Is it a member or member staff who gave tours to insurrectionists the day before the riot on Wednesday?” Wallace asked.
“Again, I don’t have all the specifics on that,” he said. “My understanding is that there was a member showing people around. And that was the reason that when the person who relayed that story to me objected, the answer comes, ‘well, they’re with a member of Congress.’ So, this issue, right, if a member of Congress wants to do it, traditionally, it has been assumed to be safe. That’s why I sit on the House Intelligence Committee. No one does a background check of me. I’ve been elected by the people. I swear an oath to our nation’s secrets and most of American history, we could rely on the fact that people would conduct themselves a certain way.”
He explained that for the first time since the Civil War, Americans can’t be certain that an official in Congress won’t try to bring a gun to the inauguration and attempt to assassinate President-elect Joe Biden.
Wallace asked who the member was, and Maloney wouldn’t say but claimed he would “send him your way.”
See the interview below: