In a 2007 Interview, Biden Said He Was Arrested for Trespassing at the Capitol: Report

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Feb 22, 2021 12:56 AM EST

President Joe Biden said in a 2007 appearance on David Letterman that he was arrested at the U.S. Capitol when he was 21 years old, according to a report. He was a Democratic senator of Delaware at the time.

Fox News reported that Letterman asked Biden what it was like to walk into the U.S. Senate chamber when he was elected at the age of 29. Biden replied that he had walked into the Senate chamber when he was 21 and got arrested.

Biden said he was visiting some friends at Georgetown University on a Saturday when he decided to visit Washington as he was fascinated with the Senate.

"In those days, no guards stopping you everywhere. And they just got out of session. I walked in the back, all of a sudden I found myself in the chamber. I was stunned. I walked up, sat down in the presiding officer's seat, guy grabbed by the shoulder, said: 'you're under arrest'," Biden told Letterman in the interview.

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Biden recounted the events and said nine years later, as he walked onto the Senate floor, the same police officer asked him if he remembered him, and he admitted that he does not.

The police officer then told Biden that he arrested him nine years ago and welcomed him back at the Capitol.

The report noted that it was unclear whether Biden was indeed arrested at the age of 21. However, it said that Biden had been caught claiming other arrests that turned out not to be true, including one claiming that he was arrested while visiting Nelson Mandela in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Biden then later said that by "arrested," he meant not being able to move.

Ongoing Investigations of the Capitol Riot

Meanwhile, federal authorities probing on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot are looking into whether high-profile supporters of former President Donald Trump, including Roger Stone and Alex Jones, played any role in instigating the violence.

According to an NBC News report, the possibility of Stone, Jones, and Ali Alexander being linked to the riot was first reported by The Washington Post.

The law enforcement source said that charges were unlikely, but investigators said they want to get a broad understanding of any possible instigators.

Trump was known to have pardoned Stone in 2019 for his conviction of making false statements, obstruction, and witness tampering. Stone is a long-time adviser and is a right-wing conspiracy theorist, claiming that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton, Connecticut did not happen.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said the scope and scale of the probe of the cases regarding Capitol riot are unprecedented in Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) history, and probably in DOJ history, CBS News reported.

So far, around 235 people have been charged for their alleged roles in the Capitol riot. Seventy of those arrested were already indicted by grand juries, according to CBS News. Federal prosecutors also opened more than 400 investigations into possible criminals.

Sherwin earlier said that prosecutors would move away from charging identifiable defendants, such as those who appeared in photos and social media and will focus on building more complicated conspiracy cases connected to militia groups' coordinating the attack.

At least 18 have been charged with conspiracy for allegedly coordinating with others to commit an offense. On the other hand, over 20 people were charged with the destruction of government property statute.