Rep. Boebert denies giving tour to Capitol rioters — despite no one accusing her
A first-term Republican congresswoman with a history of promoting the deranged QAnon conspiracy theory is coming out guns blazing against the idea that she gave a pre-riot tour of the Capitol to some of the pro-Trump attackers — even though no one has accused her of doing so.
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, a gun-rights activist who has landed in hot water for wanting to carry her firearm inside the Capitol, sent a letter to Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.) late Thursday blasting him for “falsely” claiming in an interview that she was the unnamed GOP lawmaker rumored to have given a “reconnaissance tour” of the building the day before the Jan. 6 assault.
“Your carelessness led to multiple media stories and viral tweets spreading this disinformation,” Boebert wrote to the New York Democrat. “Based on your lies and those of your colleagues, some have even gone so far as to accuse me of conspiring with the criminals that attacked the Capitol.”
Only problem is Maloney didn’t accuse Boebert of giving a tour to the insurrectionists.
“Um, I’ve never said your name in public,” Maloney tweeted at Boebert in response to her missive. “Never. Not once. (If you’re going to be a gun nut, you probably shouldn’t go off half cocked).”
Maloney attached a transcript of his interview on MSNBC to the tweet that confirmed he didn’t point fingers at Boebert.
“My understanding is that there was a member showing people around,” Maloney said in the interview.
Maloney explained in the interview that a colleague of his had seen the Republican who gave the tour. As an aside, Maloney added he was concerned that “some of our new colleagues” believe in “conspiracy theories” and “want to carry guns into the chamber.”
Clearly, Boebert felt called out by Maloney’s comment.
However, a number of GOP lawmakers have demanded they be allowed to bring guns to the Capitol in recent weeks. In addition, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Boebert’s fellow first-term Republicans, has also voiced support for QAnon, the baseless theory that claims the U.S. government is run by a deep state cabal of Satan-worshiping, child-trafficking Democrats.
After Maloney’s pushback, Boebert offered a mea culpa.
“A thousand apologies,” Boebert tweeted at Maloney. “I’m glad you clarified you were not making any remarks about me whatsoever. Please clarify that with the people making death threats and also MSNBC so they can set the record straight.”
The confusing back-and-forth comes amid mounting allegations that at least one Republican member of Congress gave a tour of the Capitol to some of the attackers on Jan. 5. The next day, incited by President Trump, the attackers stormed the building in a violent bid to overturn Joe Biden’s election, resulting in the death of a police officer and four other people.
The identity of the Republican who allegedly helped the rioters remains unknown. It’s also not clear if the FBI or other law enforcement agencies are investigating the matter.
On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested there should be criminal repercussions for any members of Congress found to have helped the rioters.
“If, in fact, it is found that members of Congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted the crimes, there may have to be actions taken beyond the Congress in terms of prosecution for that,” Pelosi said at a press conference on Capitol Hill.
