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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thirty-five U.S. Capitol Police officers are being investigated for their actions during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, and six have been suspended with pay, the police department said in a statement on Friday.

Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died in the violence when throngs of former President Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol, overpowering security forces.

Two law enforcement officers later committed suicide.

“Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman has directed that any member of her department whose behavior is not in keeping with the department’s rules of conduct will face appropriate discipline,” police department spokesman John Stolnis said.

Details of the investigation were not provided.

A U.S. House of Representatives panel has scheduled a hearing on Feb. 25 to look into Capitol security failures on Jan. 6. Pittman and Acting House Sergeant-at-arms Timothy Blodgett are scheduled to testify.

Investigators have been looking into the response by the Capitol Police officers and whether any of the officers may have aided the rioters, according to congressional aides and some lawmakers.

Just days after the attack, it was disclosed that two officers had been suspended, according to Democratic Representative Tim Ryan. One had taken a selfie with a protester, while another wore a Trump-supporting hat and was directing protesters around the building, Ryan told reporters.

It was unclear whether the two were among the 35 now being investigated or whether they were trying to quell the crowd by establishing personal contact with rioters.

The right-wing protesters went to Capitol Hill shortly after Trump addressed a crowd near the White House, telling them: “We fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

The rioters went to the seat of the U.S. Congress, temporarily blocking lawmakers from formally certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election, following repeated attempts by Trump to reverse that outcome.

One week after the riot, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives impeached Trump on a charge of inciting an insurrection. The Senate failed to convict him when most Republicans voted for an acquittal.

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Video After The Jump

DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors are investigating whether suburban Denver police officers should face criminal charges for putting four Black girls on the ground and handcuffing two of them after mistakenly suspecting they were riding in a stolen car, a district attorney said Friday.

The incident Sunday attracted national attention after a video of the girls — some in tears — being detained in a parking lot spread on social media.

The traffic stop happened in Aurora, where officers are also being investigated following the death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain after he was placed in a chokehold last year.

In the Sunday incident, officers eventually determined the car carrying the girls, ranging in age from 6 to 17, had the same license plate number as the one they were seeking from another state.

Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson and the department are cooperating with the investigation, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler said in his announcement. He called the public accounts of the confrontation “very concerning.”

“Everyone is entitled to be treated equally under the law,” he said. “No one is above the law. If our investigation determines that the officers involved committed a crime, I will not hesitate to file charges and prosecute them.”

Brauchler is a Republican and a vocal defender of law enforcement, but earlier this year he criticized members of Aurora’s police department for helping shield an officer found passed out in his patrol car from criminal prosecution for suspected drinking and driving.

Aurora police apologized after the video taken by a bystander showed the girls, with the 17-year-old and a 12-year-old lying on their stomachs with their hands cuffed behind their backs. A 14-year-old girl was lying next to the 6-year-old, also on their stomachs next to the car.

They can be heard crying and screaming as officers stand with their backs to the camera. A woman on the other side of the car is seen being led away in handcuffs.

An officer eventually helped the handcuffed girls sit up but left them with their hands behind their backs, and police eventually determined they had stopped the wrong car. Part of the reason for the mix-up might have been that the car had been reported as stolen earlier in the year, police said.

Driver Brittney Gilliam, who had taken her nieces, sister and daughter out for a day at a nail salon, has characterized the officers’ actions as police brutality.

“There’s no excuse why you didn’t handle it a different type of way,” Gilliam told KUSA-TV. “You could have even told them ‘step off to the side, let me ask your mom or your auntie a few questions so we can get this cleared up.’ There was different ways to handle it.”

Jennifer Wurtz, who shot the video, said on camera that the police drew guns as they initially approached the car.

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