It appears the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, resulting in five deaths, may have had inside help — and not just from President Donald Trump. One organizer claims three members of Congress were in on the planning. One congresswoman who was inside the Capitol tweeted about the movements of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the marauders searched for her. A full-scale congressional investigation is warranted. If proof of collusion by elected officials is there, congressional expulsion and prison time should follow.

One of the organizers of the deadly attack, right-wing activist Ali Alexander, claims his planning was aided by Republican Reps. Paul A. Gosar and Andy Biggs, both of Arizona, and Mo Brooks of Alabama. They have denied it, but Gosar has called Alexander "a true patriot" and joined him at a December rally in Phoenix to promote his election-fraud lies. Biggs offered a video message at the same rally. Phone records of their calls to Alexander should be of particular interest to investigators.

At another rally the night before the Capitol attack, Alexander led the crowd in a chant of "Victory or death," which didn't stop Gosar from approvingly retweeting him the next day. "I want (Biden's) concession on my desk tomorrow morning. Don't make me come over there," Gosar tweeted.

Brooks, at the Jan. 6 rally, told the crowd that "today is the day that American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass." None of this is stand-alone evidence of conspiracy to insurrection, but all of it merits investigation.

So does the role of newly seated Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. During the Capitol attack, Boebert tweeted that, while most members were locked in the House, Pelosi, a top target of the attackers, had been "removed from the chambers." Boebert denies she was trying to help the attackers locate Pelosi. But this is the same unhinged ideologue who had earlier said of the rally, "Today is 1776," and refused to let Capitol police search her bag after vowing to illegally bring a handgun onto the House floor.

Some Democrats also report an unusually high volume of visitor groups walking through the Capitol the day before the attack — groups that, because of pandemic restrictions, aren't allowed on tours except with the approval of a member of Congress. Were the attackers casing the building? Were Republican members aiding them, unwittingly or otherwise? With cameras everywhere in the Capitol, this would be a good use for the facial-recognition technology available to investigators.

It's disturbing to imagine elected officials would purposefully aid this attack on America, but it wouldn't be that big a step from the anti-democracy radicalism that so many Republicans have demonstrated in plain view by promoting the vote-fraud lie that helped spark the violence. An investigation should follow the evidence wherever it leads. Even — especially — if it leads to the House or Senate floors.

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