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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks about her Capitol rioting experience
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez opened up during an Instagram Live about her traumatic Capitol rioting experience.
USA TODAY, Storyful
The allegation: Capitol workers threw away an American flag while preparing for the transfer of power
The U.S. Capitol mob on Jan. 6 left the mess in its wake for the U.S. people, lawmakers and employees of the building to clean up. In the aftermath, a viral meme deceives with a photo of the cleanup users of social media.
“While cleaning the capital, they throw up the flag and throw it away as rubbish,” reads an image circulating on Facebook. ‘No better picture of the transition of power than is shown here. Pathetic …. I do not like to brag, but we are quite proud of that vague old flag. ‘
The photo shows an American flag in a trash can while workers clean the Capitol.
Social media users shared the image several times in the weeks following the attack on Capitol. A January 23 Facebook post posted the photo receiving more than 900 comments, 700 comments and 48,000 shares.
More: Fact check: Lincoln watched baseball games in front of the White House, but the image in meme is from 1945
None of the Facebook users USA TODAY responded to the image.
Caption confirms the flag was from Capitol riots
Photojournalist Ken Cedeno took the photo on January 7 in the Rayburn reception room of the American Capitol building.
” A trash can was filled with objects left behind by Trump crowds as workers vacuumed the floor in the Rayburn Room of the American Capitol in Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 7, 2021, ” the description of the photograph on the photograph reads: Alamy website.
Cedeno did not respond to a request from USA TODAY for comment.
Capitol officials stress that rubbish was collected in the riot investigation
Laura Condeluci, a specialist in public affairs at Architect of the Capitol, said in an email to USA TODAY that items of the violation were handed over to law enforcement on January 6.
“Many articles related to the Capitol violation have been collected and passed on to the Department of Justice,” she wrote.
Condeluci did not specify whether the flag was collected in the statue for the Department of Justice or to be discarded.
More: Fact-checking: The statement that the Senate cannot convict a former president has no connection
Damage and rubbish left in the American Capitol
The January 6 intrusion left the historic building strewn and damaged, with broken glass, debris, Trump equipment and flags inside the Capitol after the attack. Participants also smeared blood and feces around the building.
On the architect of the Capitol’s website, employee Ricardo Mitchell described the damage that workers cleared up after police cleared the Capitol.
“Once they had everything under control, we had to get back in the building and clean up the mess because the members are going to come back to finish voting,” he said. “We had to go into the rooms and prepare them so they could come back.”
Mitchell said rioters left masks, broken glass and furniture. He added that his team had to keep working extra hours to repair the building.
The attack left some historic doors irreparably damaged.
The architect of the Capitol’s website mentions that the first preparations, including the construction of the entrance platform, were already underway when the Capitol was attacked. The clean-up was not part of the presidential transition, but rather the restoration of the Capitol.
Our rating: Missing context
The Jan. 6 U.S. capital breach left the building dilapidated. A viral image shows Capitol employees cleaning up after being damaged and littered by a mob, not in preparation for Joe Biden’s inauguration. Garbage was collected and handed over to the Department of Justice; the fate of the flag in the photo is unclear. We judge the claim as DISSOLUTING CONTEXT, because the image of the flag alone with the description is misleading.
Our sources for fact checking:
- Michael Spaz Spicer, January 23, Facebook Post
- vetcarry.com, January 14, Facebook Post
- Rob Meza’s Page, January 15, Facebook Post
- Shane Patrick Walker, January 22, Facebook Post
- Alamy, January 7th, Image ID: 2E1K9BK
- History, Art and Archives, United States House of Representatives, Feb. 2 at Rayburn’s Reception Room
- USA TODAY, email Laura Condeluci, Public Affairs Specialist at Architect of the Capitol
- USA TODAY, January 8, “Photos: Damage in the US Capitol”
- The Atlantic, January 9, “It was supposed to be so much worse”
- Architect of the Capitol, Jam. 15, “Clearing the American Capitol”