Criminal charges for lawmakers who helped Capitol riot: Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, has suggested that any lawmaker found to have assisted in the January 6 storming of the Capitol in Washington D.C. should face criminal charges.

"We must trust each other, respect the people who sent us here. We must also have the truth, and that will be looked into," The Hill news website quoted Pelosi as saying to reporters on Friday in the Capitol.

"If, in fact, it is found that members of Congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted the crime, there may have to be actions taken beyond the Congress, in terms of prosecution for that," she added.

Pelosi's remarks came as several Democrats have already expressed their suspicions that some Republican lawmakers might have helped the rioters ahead of the chaos.

On Wednesday, a group of Democrats wrote a letter to Capitol Police chief and the acting sergeants-at-arms in both chambers, urging probes into "suspicious behaviour and access" facilitated by some Republican lawmakers on January 5, the day before the attack on the Capitol, The Hill news website reported.

"Members of the group that attacked the Capitol seemed to have an unusually detailed knowledge of the layout of the Capitol Complex. The presence of these groups within the Capitol Complex was indeed suspicious.

"Given the events of January 6, the ties between these groups inside the Capitol Complex and the attacks on the Capitol need to be investigated," the letter read.

The attack on the Capitol building on January 6 which took place while Congress was in session considering the ratification of the electoral college votes electing Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President.

Earlier that day outside the Capitol, Trump addressed his supporters during which called for "patriots" to take a stand against the 2020 election results

Five people, including a police officer, were killed during the riots.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a warning about plans of armed protests from January 16 through January 20 at all the 50 state capitols, and from January 17 through January 20, the day of the inauguration, at the Capitol in Washington D.C.

At least 20,000 National Guard troops are expected to be deployed in Washington D.C.