Rep. Hansen Clarke's office burglarized

Law enforcement officials are investigating a burglary of Rep. Hansen Clarke’s (D-Mich.) district office in downtown Detroit.

Congressional laptops, video cameras and digital cameras appeared to be missing on Thursday morning when staff discovered the break-in at the office. The district office is located inside a building suite of other offices, according to Clarke.

Clarke spoke to The Hill on Thursday from the office where the break-in occurred the night before, and said he was worried that it could have been a politically motivated burglary by someone who had been inside the office before.

“We have some leads. It could have been someone who knew the layout of the office,” said Clarke. “Hopefully the break-in wasn’t politically motivated. It could be though. I think we were targeted [over the other offices in the building.]”

The burglar — or burglars — appears to have jimmied the door’s lock and rifled through all of the desk drawers in the office as well, according to a spokesperson for Clarke, who lost his reelection bid in a primary race against Democratic Rep.-elect Gary Peters earlier this year.

Clarke said that no sensitive congressional information appears to have been jeopardized by the theft of the laptops and that staff was back to business as usual in the office.

A spokesman for the U.S. Capitol Police said the department was investigating the incident in conjunction with the Detroit Police Department.

The Capitol Police are also investigating a break-in earlier this week at Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s home in Napa Valley, Calif.

Authorities arrested a suspect in that case on Wednesday, but do not believe the break-in was politically motivated.