After US Capitol Rioters, Michigan Capitol Briefly Closed Due To Bomb Threat

One day after a mob stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing was closed for two hours Thursday due to a bomb threat. Michigan State police said a man made a bomb threat in a call to the state Capitol control center before 7 a.m.

Michigan's legislature is not in session and the building has been closed to the pandemic. The building was reopened a few hours later after a sweep determined it was safe to return.

“This threat remains under investigation,” police said in a statement posted on Twitter. ”Every effort will be made to identify the person who made this threat and prosecute them to the fullest extent the law will allow.”

A Michigan lawmaker said political violence would continue so long as perpetrators escaped prosecution.

First-term state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat representing some of the suburban parts of Detroit, said she was not surprised by the events considering Wednesday’s unrest in Washington, D.C.

“Without consequences, this will keep happening,” McMorrow said from her Twitter account. “This is why it's so egregious that so many involved in yesterday's events were simply escorted out of the U.S. Capitol and sent home.”

State Sen. Curtis Hertel, a Democrat representing East Lansing, said lawmakers were given few details about the closure Thursday morning.

Four people died in Wednesday's chaos at the U.S. Capitol, including one woman who was shot by police. More than 50 people were arrested, though most of those were for violations of a 6 p.m. ET curfew.

The Detroit Free Press reported Thursday that at least four people from Michigan were arrested for curfew violations in Washington, D.C., -- one for unlawful entry and at least one on weapons-related charges.

Michigan was among the states cited by President Donald Trump in unfounded claims that the recent presidential election had voter fraud.

Weeks after the national election, Wayne County Board of Canvassers Chair Monica Palmer and William Hartmann voted against certifying the county-wide results from the election. They later switched their votes on the condition that an independent audit was scheduled.

Palmer said later she was the target of death threats.

"The threats have been made against myself, my daughter and my husband," Palmer said. "Reports have been filed with Grosse Pointe Woods police and the FBI."

In October, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was the target of a kidnapping plot. Part of the plot involved hundreds of right-wing militiamen planning to storm the statehouse and spend seven days killing public officials on live television.