House Majority Whip James Clyburn said Friday that the ease with which rioters could enter the Capitol on Wednesday suggests that someone inside the Capitol was “complicit” in the attack.
“I really believe something was up,” Clyburn told CBSN anchor Lana Zak. “They knew where to go. I have heard … from other congressmen that their staff say they saw people being let into the building through side doors. Who opened those side doors to these protesters, or I call them these gangsters, to Enter the building, not through the main entrance where there are magnetometers, but through side doors. Yes, someone inside those buildings was an accessory to this. ”
Supporters of President Trump looted the building, forcing the evacuation of lawmakers who gathered to count the votes of the electoral college.
Clyburn suggested that his inner office was targeted by the mafia because there was “activity outside my inner office where most people don’t know where it is.”
‘The office with my name on the door was not touched. But the office where I do most of my work was on that floor and outside that door, ”said the South Carolina Democrat.
Clyburn also said he felt that something was “wrong” on Wednesday morning when he arrived at the Capitol and “the outline had not been established.”
“There were no security people on the stairs. They were all in a place that I thought offered little security, ”he said, adding,“ They weren’t just run down. You could say they were accomplices. ‘
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund gave his resignation after the riots, but the police defended the response to the violence. He said officers’ actions were “heroic given the situation they faced.” One policeman and four civilians were killed in the riots.