After a coup attempt by Trump supporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, which left one person dead, conspiracy theorists and right-wing figures tried to place the blame on their favorite target: the antifa.
There is no evidence of antifa’s involvement in the violation of the Capitol and the destruction of the Senate chamber and other parts of the building, and Trump supporters have openly planned today’s action for weeks. But that did not stop unsubstantiated claims and speculation from spreading on social media.
Lin Wood, a pro-Trump lawyer who subscribes to the mass delirium QAnon, sent out several viral tweets that falsely claimed that Antifa members were inside Capitol Hill.
A tweet included a photo of men he claimed to be members of the antifa; in fact, one of the men is a frequent worldwide MAGA protester who goes by “Q Shaman”, and another is Matthew Heimbach, a well-known white nationalist.
The guy with horns and fur on the left has already been identified by many as Jake Angeli, a well-known QAnon promoter known as “Q Shaman”. On the right, we have Matthew Heimbach, a longtime neo-Nazi and a figure in the white nationalist movement … but for sure, antifa https://t.co/7tEGAfQ1ft
Juanita Broaddrick, a pro-Trump figure who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault, also tweeted a photo that included Q Shaman standing with a different group of men. She accused one of them of having an antifa tattoo. In fact, the man’s tattoo shows the “Outsider Brand” of the video game Dishonored. The false claim about the same photo was released by former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik.
Paul Sperry, a conservative writer who has been a source of misleading claims in the past, tweeted that a bus full of “Antifa bandits” infiltrated pro-Trump protesters. He cited an unnamed “former FBI agent” and no other evidence.
Law enforcement officials have said nothing about external instigators, whether they are members of antifa or another organization.
BREAKING: The former FBI agent on the United States Capitol just texted me and confirmed that at least 1 “bus loaded” with Antifa bandits has infiltrated peaceful Trump protesters as part of a false flag operation Trump
Hoaxes over buses filled with antifa protesters have unfortunately become commonplace. Sperry’s baseless tweet was later amplified by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
There was also a wave of false allegations about the police escorting of antifa members to the protests, according to Reuters. A spokesman for the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department, told the news agency that “it does not act as a private security for any group”
Unsubstantiated speculations about the antifa’s involvement accelerated when the 6 pm curfew took effect in DC and the pro-Trump crowd 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 Capitol invasion on Wednesday. None of them provided evidence to support their claims.