EVERY single Congressmember received specific and official guidance NOT to give tours.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

[spooky3]

1. It's not clear when this directive was issued. Nt

[Nevilledog]

4. Grace Meng is the Congressional Representative from NY-6.

Doesn't seem likely to me she would post a directive from an irrelevant time. Plus, if these were restrictions from another time,you would expect those for the meeting of the Electoral College with known threats would be even more restrictive.

[spooky3]

11. But was it pre-Jan. 5? Nt

[Hortensis]

19. Yes. It was closed due to Covid.

[spooky3]

21. See the memo 12/29/20 Nevilledog posted. Nt

[dpibel]

5. Well, there's this

from the top of the Capitol Visitor Center home page, as of today, which is pretty current:

"COVID-19 (coronavirus) Update

"The Capitol Visitor Center is closed for tours. All tours are cancelled. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we look forward to welcoming you to the Capitol Visitor Center at a future date."

I suppose it's possible that "All tours" might mean "all tours except ones hosted by Congresspeople."

[spooky3]

9. I think the point is that, if the total ban directive had been issued

Prior to Jan. 5, then we would have more evidence that the hosts of the tours were not innocent.

[Nevilledog]

6. This

https://www.majorityleader.gov/sites/democraticwhip.house.gov/files/2020_12_01_Opening%20Session_FINAL.pdf

[spooky3]

12. Thank you! At the very end, it bans ALL tours. This was Dec. 2020.

This should be used to help nail whoever hosted the “tourists.”

[LeftInTX]

10. January 6th

They weren't supposed to give tours because of Covid, but you know Repubs. Members of congress got a pass.

Then they gave a security order not to allow any tours on January 6th.

[blueinredohio]

14. That was going to be my question. Did it just come out or was it before the 5th?

[spooky3]

16. Came out 12/29/20-see the memo Nevilledog posted. Nt

[LeftInTX]

17. It was specifically for the 6th, not the 5th

I think it was to keep them out while they were certifying the electoral college.

[spooky3]

23. The memo Nevilledog posted applied after 12/29/20. And

Given the phrase “remain” closed to tours, there may be been an even earlier ban. In any case, members had been notified well before 1/5/21 that they and their staffs were NOT to give tours at any time.

[TheBlackAdder]

40. Not an extensive tour. Not a tour of the dome. Just what counts.

.



.

[Wawannabe]

2. I can't believe that officials don't know who was giving tours on the 5th

What gives?

WHEN will we know WHO?

[euphorb]

3. It wouldn't surprise me if they do know, but simply haven't made it public yet.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Same Here

On another thread, someone tossed the good notion that announcing stuff like that would be better after the mad pardoner is out.
Last second pardons for the crazies involved would be awful.
Wait to ID & charge after he can do no more damage.

[Wawannabe]

15. Sage advice

I am a tad impatient...

[StarfishSaver]

8. I have never heard of any Member of Congress EVER giving a tour of the Capitol

You know who gives the Capitol tours? Interns.

Sometimes Members tag along when interns take VIPs from the district around the Capitol. But I have never once seen or heard of a Member conducting their own personal tour of the Capitol. They don't do that.

I especially doubt that a new Member would conduct a tour because they generally don't know their way around - unless they've spent some time scoping the place out for some reason ...

[spooky3]

13. And the Dec memo Nevilledog posted in a reply

Banned tours led by staff AND members.

[LeftInTX]

18. They were banned for Jan 6th

Also tours were not being conducted by Democratic members because of Covid, while Republican members were flaunting the rule.
The Covid touring rule did not apply to members of Congress.

[Nevilledog]

22. The letter banning tours was Dec 29th

https://www.majorityleader.gov/sites/democraticwhip.house.gov/files/2020_12_01_Opening%20Session_FINAL.pdf

[spooky3]

26. It DID apply to MC. See the very end of the memo.

I’m sure the prosecutors will be pleased to have the memo when they are ready to bring charges.

[LeftInTX]

27. I read this on CNN this morning

Capitol police don't keep security logs either, two current US Capitol Police officers told CNN.
"Rules don't apply to the members. Never have, never will," one officer said.
"Members) can just waive people through. If they do that, we're advised to notify the Sergeant-at-Arms," another officer said. "We can't stop them."

The January 4 letter obtained by CNN went further and banned all tours. In it then US House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving explicitly wrote, the Capitol and the Capitol Visitor Center "remain closed to all tours, including Member, staff-led and public tours" on January 6."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/politics/tours-memo-capitol/index.html

[spooky3]

28. But the Dec. 29 memo banned tours before Jan. 5. READ IT. Nt

[LeftInTX]

29. I know I read it...It sounds like it wasn't enforced and this was an orientation memo.

There was another memo from Jan 4th.

This member recounted asking a Capitol Police officer why they were there, because they were not supposed to be there. The officer responded that there was nothing to be done since the group was brought in by a lawmaker. The member was specifically concerned about the group not wearing masks and asked them to put their masks on to no avail.
Looking back, the lawmaker wondered if focusing on Covid-19 exposure was wrong and should have instead raised the larger question of whether these tours were preparation for the upcoming attack.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/politics/tours-memo-capitol/index.html

[GulfCoast66]

32. Back in maybe 81 or 82 my congressman gave a tour to a church group I was with.

I lived in Arkansas and it was a group of 10-15 high schools kids from the state Baptist Association. We were doing mission work(cutting down trees for a baseball field at a church camp in N. Virginia). Today just the idea of high school kids running chainsaws and driving tractors seem crazy. Of course we were mainly country boys.

Don’t remember the congressman’s name.

But then, that was 40 years ago.

[FailureToCommunicate]

37. We were given a tour by a Senator. The full nine yards, including the Senate session where

they voted the Lily Ledbetter equal pay law into the books.

So, it's not unheard of.

The building was spectacular (at least back before Trump's goon trashed it) and it truly seemed like "a temple to democracy" as people have described it.

[StarfishSaver]

38. I have no doubt you are telling the truth

How long had the Senator been in office?

[FailureToCommunicate]

39. The NM Senator had been there 25 years already when he showed us around.

Not sure what that has to do with comment about tours, though.

This was 2008, just as Obama was swept into office at that jubilant inaugural celebration.

[StarfishSaver]

41. I asked because it makes sense to me that a veteran Senator who had been around for years

would know the place well enough to take constituents on a tour.

But most of the House Members I knew, even those who've been there for years, didn't know the buildings well enough to do more than take guests to the floor, show them the Dome (which only Members can do), Statuary Hall, or some other more familiar areas. And even when they were more familiar with the buildings, they didn't have anything close to the knowledge about the history and artifacts that make the tours really special ("this painting of the baptism of Pocahontas was painted in a barn not far from here in 1840" ...) that the interns and other staff who are trained to conduct the tours and who do them regularly as part of their jobs have.

A House Member who's been there a short time - especially just a few weeks - would not, as a matter of course, know the buildings well enough to take people on tours of the Capitol. They also don't usually have the time. Boebert's lucky to be able to find her way from her office to the floor to vote. Her "taking constituents on a tour of the Capitol" doesn't pass my smell test.

[MagickMuffin]

20. Well we know of at least one congress woman who refuses to follow directives

and she is VERY defensive, like I'm guilty defensive.

[dalton99a]

24. Kick

[CentralMass]

25. It is pretty clear that the security and protocol at the Capitol is sub standard

It seems like they for the most part have an honor system. Therein lies the problem.

[LeftInTX]

30. Pete Sessions met with Stop the Steal people at the Capitol on Jan 4th

Link to tweet

[Ferrets are Cool]

31. "They" have known for days who gave these "tours"

WE just don't know. Are they trying to protect them or get more info? Either the guilty parties are cooperating OR they are squirming in their collective pants.

[Tommymac]

35. Thinking we will not know until after Inauguration to prevent Pardons

from The Orange Traitor.

[Ferrets are Cool]

36. +1

[George II]

33. Those who are debating the dates and the extent of the tour ban should just read Meng's twitter acct

[BobTheSubgenius]

34. If you are beyond adamant about taking your gun into the Capitol,

taking your mother does not seem like a stretch.

[demtenjeep]

42. would be cool to see all those that obeyed

and would be obvious about those that broke the rules