Federal Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Colbert Team Insurrectionists

Federal prosecutors have declined to prosecute members of a production team associated with Stephen Colbert‘s late-night comedy show who were arrested last month on Capitol Hill.

A production team involved with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which airs on CBS, had been charged with unlawful entry had a court date set for this week after being arrested by Capitol Police while filming segments for cigar-smoking puppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog handled by comedian Robert Smigel.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is a talk show that airs on CBS. The network acknowledged last week that a production team involved in filming segments for cigar-smoking puppet Triumph the Insult Comic Dog handled by comedian Robert Smigel was detained by Capitol Police, and Colbert himself addressed the arrests on his show Monday.

“The United States Capitol Police (USCP) has been working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on the June 16, 2022, Unlawful Entry case that involved a group of nine people associated with The Late Show,” Capitol Police said in a statement Monday.

“The USCP arrested nine people for Unlawful Entry charges because members of the group had been told several times before they entered the Congressional buildings that they had to remain with a staff escort inside the buildings and they failed to do so,” Capitol Police added. “The United States Capitol Police was just informed the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is declining to prosecute the case. We respect the decision that office has made.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia also released a statement.

“After a comprehensive review of all of the evidence and the relevant legal authority, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has determined that it cannot move forward with misdemeanor charges of unlawful entry against the nine individuals who were arrested on June 16, 2022 at the Longworth Office Building,” the office said.

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“The individuals, who entered the building on two separate occasions, were invited by Congressional staffers to enter the building in each instance and were never asked to leave by the staffers who invited them, though, members of the group had been told at various points by the U.S. Capitol Police that they were supposed to have an escort,” the statement added. “The Office would be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these invited guests were guilty of the crime of unlawful entry because their escort chose to leave them unattended. We do not believe it is probable that the Office would be able to obtain and sustain convictions on these charges. The defendants no longer will be required to appear for a scheduled hearing in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on July 20, 2022.”

This story is breaking and will be updated.