A U.S. Capitol Police officer was suspended Monday after anti-Semitic material was found near his work station, the department announced.
The officer will be suspended pending an investigation by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
“We take all allegations of inappropriate behavior seriously. Once this matter was brought to my attention, I immediately ordered the officer to be suspended until the Office of Professional Responsibility can thoroughly investigate,” acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement.
It is not known if the material actually belonged to the suspended officer, whose name has not been released.
A congressional aide noticed a printed copy of the “Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion” at a checkpoint inside the Longworth House Office Building Sunday evening, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the story.
The aide photographed the copy and sent it to The Post.
The material appeared to be downloaded from the website of the Bible Believers Church, an Australian-based organization that has been accused of disseminating anti-Semitic materials, The Post reported.
The Anti-Defamation League has described the material discovered at the officer’s work station as “classic in paranoid, racist literature.” It claims a cabal of Jewish people control the banks, media and government in an attempt to dominate the world, according to the ADL.
In February, the Capitol Police suspended six officers with pay and began investigating 29 others for their alleged actions during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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