A Capitol police officer was suspended Monday after anti-Semitic material was discovered near his work station, the department said.
Acting police Chief Yogananda Pittman told NBC News that the officer would remain suspended pending an investigation by the agency'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,” Pittman said.
A congressional aide spotted a printed copy of the Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion at a checkpoint inside the Longworth House Office Building about 7 p.m. Sunday, The Washington Post reported. The copy appeared to be downloaded from the website of the Australia-based Bible Believers Church, a notorious purveyor of anti-Semitic material, according to the newspaper, which received photos from the aide.
Capitol police appeared to have disciplined the officer after The Post provided photos of the tract to the agency. It was not clear Tuesday if the material belonged to the suspended officer, whose name has not been released.
The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion is a century-old "classic in paranoid, racist literature" that claims a cabal of Jewish people control the banks, media, and government in an attempt to dominate the world, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The text has been favored by white supremacists, U.S. right-wing extremists such as the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations, the ADL said.
The officer's suspension came in the wake of increasing scrutiny of the Capitol police since the deadly riot on Jan. 6.
NBC News reported in February that at least six officers were suspended with pay and 29 others were under investigation for their alleged actions during the Capitol riot.
The riot left five people dead, including Capitol police Officer Brian Sicknick.
