- Since the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol, lawmakers have reported several items stolen from their offices. Disinformation about the items has already started to spread.
- A laptop that belonged to an aide to mayor Nancy Pelosi was one of the stolen items.
- Here’s what we really know about the laptop and some of the claims that have been shared about it.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
When the U.S. Capitol team returned to work after the violent uprising by pro-Trump extremists, they found broken windows and their offices looted.
A laptop that belonged to an aide to mayor Nancy Pelosi was one of the stolen items.
Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, announced last week that the aide’s laptop, which he said was “used only for presentations,” was removed from a conference room on Capitol Hill.
Although far-right activists have already started spreading misinformation about the device – some claim it was taken by the US Special Forces because it contained evidence of electoral fraud – there is no evidence that this is the case.
The misinformation resulted from comments made by retired Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney.
McInerney falsely claimed that Antifa is responsible for the disturbances and that the panic over the laptop, which he claims is full of overwhelming information, is the reason Democrats sought impeachment from President Donald Trump.
Read More: The right-wing conspiracy theories that fueled the siege of the Capitol will instigate further violence
Ken McGraw, a public relations officer for the U.S. Special Operations Command, told USA TODAY on Wednesday that the agency had nothing to do with the missing laptop.
“We did not receive any reports or information that someone in the Special Forces or any other unit of the Special Operations Forces entered the United States Capitol on January 6 and stole the Speaker of Parliament Pelosi or the laptops of any other Congressman during the riot “he told USA Today.
Another false viral claim about the laptop claimed that Trump was at the Cheyenne Mountain military base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, looking at “evidence” taken from the laptop.
According to Snopes, that statement appears to have originated from a post on the right-wing social media platform Parler, which went offline after Amazon stopped hosting the site due to the violent content.
The post also falsely claimed that Pelosi was “detained at the border” and would be taken to an “undisclosed location” as a result of “evidence”.
However, according to Trump’s public schedule, he did not visit Cheyenne Mountain. Except for a trip to Alamo, Texas, on January 12 to visit the border wall, the president appears not to have left DC since the siege of the Capitol.
There is also no evidence that Pelosi made a trip to the border. Snopes reported that Parler’s post was shared on January 6, however Pelosi was in Congress at the end of January 6 and in the early hours of January 7, ending the certification of electoral votes.
The laptop is not the only device that was taken during the insurrection. CNN reported that Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina reported the theft of an iPad.
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon tweeted a video showing protesters stealing a laptop, USA Today reported.
There have also been false claims about papers stolen from Capitol offices.
Brendan Keefe, an investigative reporter for Atlanta’s WXIA TV station, unmasked a letter that people online claimed had been stolen from Pelosi’s desk.
The fake letter, which Keefe edited to show that it was photoshopped, seemed to show Pelosi giving advice to the Mayor of Portland on how to blame Trump for civil unrest.