Last week it was reported that Capitol Police illegally entered the office of Rep. Troy E. Nehls and took photographs of confidential material about a bill that would have ensured body armor quality for law enforcement officers and that the body armor is not made in China. The words “body armor” and a map of the Rayburn House Office Building that a staffer drew to direct an intern to an ice machine within the complex because their ice machine was broken apparently was cause for concern and led the Capitol police to take pictures as part of their investigation into Mr. Nehls.
Congressman Nehls has been very critical of the Capitol Police after their handling of January 6th and for shooting Ashli Babbitt. Nehls claimed that “Capitol Police leadership have put a target on my back, but my work in exposing the security failures on January 6th, the death of Ms. Babbitt, and the sham investigation into the events of January 6th will not be deterred.”
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger released a statement claiming that “The United States Capitol Police is sworn to protect Members of Congress. If a Member’s office is left open and unsecured, without anyone inside the office, USCP officers are directed to document that and secure the office to ensure nobody can wander in and steal or do anything else nefarious. The weekend before Thanksgiving, one of our vigilant officers spotted the Congressman’s door was wide open. That Monday, USCP personnel personally followed up with the Congressman’s staff and determined no investigation or further action of any kind was needed. No case investigation was ever initiated or conducted into the Representative or his staff.”
Capitol Police later returned to Nehls’ office and questioned a staff member and that is when he heard of the raid.
Nehls did join Glenn Beck’s radio program last Wednesday and said that he did agree that it was their responsible to go in and check out the situation if the door was open to make sure that no one was in there doing anything that they shouldn’t have been. He has requested that the Inspector General do an independent investigation separate from other investigations into the claims of other lawmakers who have also claimed that the Capitol Police have been spying on them and the Inspector General agreed.
One of the other lawmakers who have claimed that they are being spied on is Congressman Louie Gohmert. Gohmert recently received a piece of mail from one of his constituents more than 4 months after it was sent. When he received the letter, the letter was already opened and was stamped by the Department of Justice.
Due to the allegations, the Inspector General of the Capitol Police has now opened an investigation into the claims. It’s unclear yet if the Capitol police officers acted alone or if they were directed by someone higher up such as the Police Chief or Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who does have control over the Capitol Police. The really concerning thing is that there is no oversight into the Capitol Police. Unlike other departments, there is no right to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) them. If a Speaker of the House came in and really got out of control and targeted members on the other side of the isle, there is very little oversight and that should concern all Americans regardless of what side of the political isle you may fall on.
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