Capitol police has caught Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss’ chief of staff defacing signs outside Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Capitol complex office. Police officers referred him for criminal charges but the same U.S. Attorney’s office that prosecuted the Jan. 6 defendants has refused to approve an arrest warrant, according to the released documents and interviews with police.
WATCH MTG put the poster up:
On June 20th, police and Auchincloss have also confirmed that the congressman’s office was implicated in permitting the production team of comedian Steven Colbert into the Capitol complex last week amid an incident that lead to security concerns and the subsequent arrest of seven members of Colbert’s team.
In March, Capitol police asked federal prosecutors for an arrest warrant for Timothy Hysom, 51, a longtime Democratic congressman who worked for Rep. Adam Schiff.
Police reported that they believed Hysom may have been connected to seven sign defacements outside Greene’s office in the Longworth House office building at some point between January and March. Hysom refused to be interviewed when confronted.
Spokesman Matt Corridoni claimed that the real victims were people who were forced to read Greene’s signs that indicated there were only two genders – male and female – labeling the message “bullying.”
While stressing that the behavior of Hysom was legal, Corridoni went out of his way to claim that his boss, Auchincloss, had no prior knowledge of what his chief of staff was doing.
On June 20th, police and Auchincloss’ office also confirmed that the Massachusetts congressman’s office – but not particularly Hysom – was responsible for checking in Colbert’s crew at Longworth on June 16th for an interview. The crew, who had been dropped earlier in the day from a different congressional building, was arrested for illegal entry after they were found roaming the building late at night.
Auchincloss’ office said he had checked the crew in for an interview with the congressman, but he had not been condoning his decision to stay and keep filming other matters afterward. “Our contact with them ended well before the building closed for the evening. We do not tolerate any inappropriate activity and cannot say anything about what happened after hours,” said Corridoni.
Police said the case is still under criminal investigation.
In the Hysom case, Capitol X’s arrest request involves photos gleaned from security footage of Hysom outside Greene’s office putting up the stickers and gives details on how X identified the man as a suspect. He noted that X set up a hidden security camera after the first five incidents of defacement.
When police officers returned and viewed the footage again, they noticed Hysom affixing the sticker, according to the report.
As per a media report, Hysom was implicated in an incident some years ago when he worked for Representative Adam Lowenthal where Capitol Police were called. According to Metroweekly.com, citing Hysom, a man entered the office of the congressman and ripped down a pride flag that was hanging next to the American flag.