In the wake of the attempted coup by Trump supporters at the Capitol on Wednesday that left one person dead, conspiracy theorists and right-wing figures tried to shift the blame to their favorite target: antifa.
There is no evidence that Antifa was involved in violating the Capitol and the subsequent demolition of the Senate Hall and other parts of the building, and Trump supporters openly planned today’s actions. But that has not stopped unfounded claims and speculations from spreading on social media.
Lin Wood, a pro-Trump lawyer who endorses the QAnon mass error, sent several viral tweets falsely claiming that members of antifa were inside the Capitol.
One tweet included a photo of men who he said were members of antifa; in fact, one of the men is a regular MAGA world protester going through ‘Q Shaman’, and another is Matthew Heimbach, a well-known white nationalist.
The man in the horns and the fur on the left have been identified by many as Jake Angeli, a well-known QAnon promoter known as the ‘Q Shaman’. On the right we have Matthew Heimbach, a longtime neo-Nazi and figure in the white nationalist movement … but sure, antifa https://t.co/7tEGAfQ1ft
Juanita Broaddrick, a pro-Trump figure who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault tweeted a photo in which Q Shaman was standing with another group of men. She accused one of them of having an antifa tattoo. In fact the man’s tattoo performances the “Outsider’s Mark” from the video game Disgrace. The false claim regarding the same photo was distributed by former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik.
Paul Sperry, a Conservative writer who has been misleading in the past, tweeted that a bus full of “Antifa thugs” had infiltrated pro-Trump protesters. He mentions an unnamed “former FBI agent” and no other evidence.
Law enforcement officials have said nothing about outside instigators, whether members of antifa or another organization.
BREAK: Former FBI agent on the territory of the US Capitol just texted me and confirmed that at least 1 “busload” of Antifa thugs had entered peaceful Trump protesters as part of a fake Trump
Battles over busloads of antifa protesters have unfortunately become commonplace. Sperry’s unfounded tweet was later strengthen by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
According to Reuters, there was also a result of false allegations about the police accompanying antifa members to the protests. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC, told the news agency that he “does not act in the capacity of private security for any group.”
Unfounded speculation about the involvement of antifa escalated when a curfew went into effect at 6pm in DC and the pro-Trump mob was removed from the Capitol. BlazeTV’s Glenn Beck, pro-Trump commentator David Harris Jr., actor Kevin Sorbo, and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec spread rumors about Antifa’s involvement in the storms of the Capitol on Wednesday. None of them provided evidence to substantiate their allegations.