The House Ethics Committee announced on Thursday it would not pursue any penalties against the four members of Congress who were arrested alongside George Clooney last week outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC.
The lawmakers, Reps. Al Green, D-Texas, Jim Moran, D- Va., Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and John Olver, D-Mass., were protesting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for provoking a humanitarian crisis in the African nation.
Each were handcuffed and placed into a U.S. Secret Service van, according to AP.
The ethics committee said it considered the “scope and nature of the conduct” and that it was not opening a formal inquiry into the matter.
Actor George Clooney (center), Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.(back), and Clooney's father, Nick Clooney (right), are arrested during a protest at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, on Friday, March 16, 2012. The demonstrators are protesting the escalating humanitarian emergency in Sudan that threatens the lives of 500,000 people. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., is arrested during a protest at the Sudan Embassy in Washington, on Friday, March 16, 2012. The demonstrators are protesting the escalating humanitarian emergency in Sudan that threatens the lives of 500,000 people. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Actor George Clooney (center) and Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va. (left), are led to a police vehicle after being arrested during a protest at the Sudan Embassy in Washington on March 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. (left), is led away after his arrest at the Sudanese Embassy while protesting against the conditions in Sudan's Darfur region on April 27, 2009. He was also one of the seven members of the Congressional Black Caucus arrested at a 2006 anti-genocide demonstration at the embassy. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., was one of the five House members arrested at the 2009 demonstration. (Chet Susslin)
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., was arrested at the 2009 protest. (Chet Susslin)
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., was among the group of House members arrested in 2009 as well. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
Rep Jim McGovern, D-Mass., was one of those arrested at the 2009 demonstration. He was also taken into custody during a 2006 protest, though a different one than Lewis. (Stephen J Boitano/AP)
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., was arrested at the 2006 protest. "Not on our watch will we allow another genocide to take place," she said at the time, according to the Associated Press. (Alex Brandon/AP)
Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., was arrested in 2006 along with other Congressional Black Caucus members. (Alex Wong)
Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C., was arrested in the 2006 sweep at the Sudanese Embassy. (Chet Susslin)
Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was among those arrested in 2006. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., was arrested in 2006. "We will not tolerate genocide," he said then, according to the Associated Press. (Lauren Victoria Burke/AP)
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas(center), was among those arrested at the 2006 protest. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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