Yeah, BUT, weren’t two of them wearing phone company jackets? That will complicate things.
Very important distinction legally if they were wearing actual uniforms from a phone company or just something that ‘looked like’ a phone company employee. I’m betting that the totally bogus looking outfits is what tipped off the Senators staffers who called building security.
But even so, the charges being talked about are only remotely valid IF these two halloween outfitted guys were ACTUALLY planning and had the ability and tools to actually tap the phone lines of the Senator. If they simply had tool bags with pliers, screwdrivers and ratchet sets, then this is obviously a prank. And proving intent requires proving an ability to at least plausibly achieve the FELONY ACT. It’s the reason we don’t arrest terrorist planners until they actually get their plan together and buy the weapons. You can’t make charges stick just because somebody ‘wants to’ or ‘talked about’ committing a crime.
Watch the US Attorney try for a ‘conspiracy’ charge instead since that would be way, way, way easier to make stand up - conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor offense.
If these amateurs dressed up as cops or Federal employees of any type, this would be an automatic felony charge. But they didn’t.
Just like Fraud - you have to prove that there were actually a fraudulent act performed in order to prosecute it. You can’t simply claim that somebody was a liar and ‘could’ have committed a fraud if they had wanted to.