Misinformation about the Capitol attack continues to go viral on the right, but the claims are slowly getting debunked, federal case by federal case.
WASHINGTON — In nearly three years since a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, far-right figures have made a claim that flies in the face of reality: That the Jan. 6 attack was actually driven by far-left antifa activists dressed up like Trump supporters, or by federal agents dressed up like Trump supporters, or by some combination thereof.
The only trouble with the conspiracy? The feds keep arresting these supposedly far-left agitators, and the rioters’ own social media posts and FBI affidavits show they’re just Trump supporters.
“Boo, antifa!” one Trump supporter yelled in a video showing the two men trying to break the windows. “No antifa! No antifa! No antifa! Antifa are breaking the windows!”
In fact, the two men were not antifa. They were Trump supporters.
Another recent Jan. 6 arrestee who had also been the subject of claims he was antifa is Paul Orta, who wore a dark-colored balaclava on Jan. 6 and was seen ripping down fencing as the mob began flooding onto the restricted grounds of the Capitol, in footage cited by the FBI. His outfit led many Trump supporters to claim he was a member of antifa.
But Orta, who was arrested and charged with a felony last month, was with a group that came to Washington in a Hippies 4 Trump bus covered in Trump 2020 graffiti.
Even some Jan. 6 defendants who have admitted that they attacked law enforcement that day have blamed antifa for the violence at the Capitol, while others have gotten angry that their fellow Trump supporters were giving antifa credit for their work.