People's convoy members were given a tour of the Capitol last week courtesy of Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
With the building mostly closed to the public, a senior congressional aide, concerned the guided tour could help the demonstrators plan an entry into the building, alerted the Department of Justice to the truckers’ presence, Politico said.
"Pulitzer Prize-winning article right here," Marshall tweeted Wednesday with an arrow pointing down to the Politico story.
The Capitol has been closed to public tours since the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19, though the Senate has been allowed to give small public tours in a limited area on the Senate side since December. There’s a weekly limit of two tours.
Marshall's office told Politico the trucker tour complied with that exception.
"Hard-working Kansans — especially those who have driven over 1,000 miles to get to D.C. — deserve access to their U.S. Capitol," Marshall’s office wrote in a statement responding to questions about his Thursday tour, Politico reported.
A spokesperson said this week that officials with the Capitol Police were working on developing a "safe plan" to reopen the building as soon as possible.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined the people's convoy on Thursday and rode "shotgun" as drivers headed to the Capital Beltway for the fourth time last week to protest COVID-19 health restrictions.
Hundreds of truckers and supporters set off from Southern California on Feb. 23 toward Washington D.C. to protest against pandemic restrictions.
Inspired by the demonstrations that crippled Canada's cities for weeks, organizers want an end to mask mandates, vaccination requirements, and business shutdowns that are intended to slow the march of COVID-19.
Capitol Hill police have been preparing for weeks for the truckers.
Before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, police said they were erecting an inner-perimeter fence to protect the building. The fence has been taken down, though some barricades remain in place, Politico reported.
Politico reported the convoy drove through parts of downtown Washington on Monday after the National Park Service partially denied their request to hold a two-week rally on the National Mall.
"Today we’re getting right next to their walls," said Mike Landis, a convoy co-organizer, per The Washington Post. "We’re not going to go in and throat-punch them just yet, even though I know we would all love to do that."
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