The Capitol Visitor’s Center has reported Rep. Rich McCormick to the House sergeant at arms, according to an email reviewed by POLITICO, accusing him of “unsafe actions” while on a tour of the Capitol’s dome Tuesday and doing pull-ups on railings suspended hundreds of feet above the ground.
The Georgia Republican went beyond a posted sign reading “no person permitted above this platform under any circumstances,” according to the email, and went over a safety railing at the “Tholos level” of the Capitol dome, more than 200 feet in the air. Staff photographed him straddling the railing and pretending to fall or slide over, the email said, and recorded him bypassing the safety signage.
He also reached up above the Tholos level to grab a crossbar and do multiple pull ups while his staff filmed, according to the account.
“There was a miscommunication and we have apologized,” McCormick spokesperson Julie Singleton told POLITICO.
McCormick has a reputation around Capitol Hill for being adventurous, including skateboarding through the Cannon tunnel, a path that connects the Capitol to House office buildings, and playing football against Capitol Police.
Tour guides in the Capitol Visitor’s Center don’t have the authority to intervene in any actions by members of Congress, but the guide leading McCormick’s tour did pass along his and his staff’s behavior to superiors, who then alerted the House sergeant at arms. It’s unclear what punitive steps the sergeant at arms could take against McCormick.
