Category Archives: Antifa

While much of America watched a mob of Trump supporters overrun police and break into the halls of Congress Wednesday afternoon, members of the far right chatted up an imaginary narrative of what was really going on.

After weeks of planting the idea, dozens of extremists used social media to promote an idea with no basis in reality that the people besieging the Capitol were actually far-left agitators disguised as Trump supporters.

The trickle of claims became a flood in a matter of hours. It started in secretive corners of the web such as 4chan, but tweets and articles from more and more mainstream conservative news sites followed. It began spiking around 1 p.m., just after rioters started breaching barriers outside the Capitol. Soon, Fox News personalities were sharing the same speculation that circulated among believers in the discredited QAnon conspiracy theory.

By 10:15 p.m., the false flag story reached the House floor that rioters had invaded earlier in the day. Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida told his shaken colleagues in a speech: They were masquerading as Trump supporters and, in fact, were members of the violent terrorist group antifa.

USA TODAY worked with experts in disinformation and examined a variety of social and news media to trace how one false claim went from the fringe to Washingtons seat of power. The review found predictions of a Jan. 6 disruption by antifa, a loose collection of far-left-leaning anti-fascists who battle the far right, going back as far as December.

The messages came more frequently as the event drew closer. Then, when the mob attacked the Capitol inviting instant condemnation from virtually all corners the idea of an antifa false flag operation exploded exponentially.

In fact, the analysis shows, members of Congress were using language parroting extremist groups and platforms just minutes before the siege began. In that case, the false claims alleged massive vote rigging.

Extensive reporting by USA TODAY and other media organizations has identified dozens of people who forced their way into the Capitol, all of whom showed in their social media accounts or said in interviews that they were avid Trump supporters. These included Ashli Babbitt, the woman fatally shot by police.

The speed with which the antifa conspiracy theory crystalized Jan. 6 underscores the close alignment in messaging between extremists and some members of the institution that was under attack.

Its kind of shocking how quickly it got to the Congress floor, said Kayla Gogarty, a senior researcher at Media Matters for America who studies misinformation. Pretty much immediately after the insurrection happened, we were seeing claims and images purportedly showing that it was antifa.

Its impossible to establish whether the false flagtheory directly spread from one individual to members of Congress or whether, instead, like-minded people had the same idea simultaneously. Conspiracy theorists also claimed left-wing groups were secretly behind the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that drew white supremacists and turned deadly.

However, some researchers said last Wednesdays chain of intertwined discussions showed a striking progression.

Rhys Leahy, a senior research assistant at George Washington University's Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics, watched the scene unfold in real time on the social messaging platform Telegram, which draws legions of Trump supporters.

From her home computer, Leahy was monitoring a network of 300 right-wing extremist Telegram channels as Trump called on the crowd to march on the Capitol. She saw mention of antifa jump from a steady stream of a dozen Telegram posts per hour to more than 10 times that. Videos from the scene, purporting to show people wearing antifa symbols, were coming from dozens of accounts, she said.

By 7 p.m., Fox hosts Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham were repeating the false claim that antifa agitators were storming the Capitol, booking guests like Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who spread the rumor on national television.

Then, a few hours later, we heard in Congress representatives repeating it, Leahy said.

Seeing how that moves through the information ecosystem from these very fringe conspiracy sites on Telegram or 8chan or 8kun or 4chan to being in the halls of Congress within hours, while its still under attack: Its crazy and its disturbing."

Long before people gathered for the presidents Wednesday speech in Washington, Trump supporters shared rumors the event would be infiltrated by antifa, the confrontational anti-fascist collective of left-wing activists who often clash with police and conservative demonstrators.

Weve seen the same rhetoric around antifa before, Gogarty said. The right has cast them as the boogeyman. Its easy to point the finger at them.

On Dec. 31, a Parler user posted a message, since viewed some 74,000 times, claiming that antifa would be at the Jan. 6 march in Washington wearing MAGA hats backward so as to recognize one another. The Parler post included a photograph of a Nov. 10 tweet with the claim, suggesting the same antifa-in-disguise ruse had been used in the past.

On Jan. 4, a 4chan user wrote, Only violence will come from antifa." Another wrote, Man says DC police are escorting antifa into DC. On Jan. 5, a 4chan user wrote, Obvious antifa posing as Trump Supporters. Another wrote,antifa dresses as trump supporters and proud boys.

The claims continued as the riot gained steam on Wednesday. A 4chan user wrote, those are probably disguised antifa at 1:22 p.m., as protesters reached the Capitol building and the confrontation with police began. I see ANTIFA! wrote another at 1:47 p.m.

It quickly escalated.

Between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., the number of Parler posts mentioning antifa on Parler jumped from 800 per hour to 3,000 per hour, a USA TODAY analysis of data from the Social Media Analysis Toolkit found. On 4chan, a message board known for extreme content, the term antifa peaked at nearly 400 mentions per hour at 1 p.m., suggesting the discussion then jumped from 4chan to Parler or other platforms as the pro-Trump crowd approached the Capitol.

At 2:27 p.m., a Parler user shared,Anyone suspect antifa/BLM are disguised as them? Around the same time, @PatriotImmigrant24 wrote on Parler,How do you know who these people are? Be careful what information you are spreading as #antifa has already said they will be dressed as Trump supporters today.

A minute later, @intheMatrixxx, an influential QAnon supporter now suspended from Twitter, shared a video of the mob with the claim,#antifa wearing #maga hats Protestors have entered the Capitol. It racked up more than 1,200 retweets.

At 2:36 p.m., the tweet was shared on Parler and, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., Parler carried 7,300 mentions of antifa, up from 2,000 the hour before.

On Twitter, the antifa claim was also spreading widely, cementing itself in right-wing media.

At 3:05 p.m. the theory started reaching a truly wide audience. Ingraham, from Fox News, tweeted a video of rioters: These vandals look like they could be straight out of Portland or Seattle, alluding to two antifa strongholds. The thought racked up 4,000 retweets and 11,000 likes. Ingraham also brought up the claim on her television show later that night.

The assertions kept echoing at a rapid pace.

At 3:21 p.m., user @SOPDN1 shared photos in a post thats since been deleted of the rioters inside the Capitol with the message, Coordinated antifa theater, gaining more than 2,500 retweets including from conservative journalist Melissa Mackenzie, who shared it with her 56,000 followers.

At 3:24 p.m., the Daily Wires Candace Owens tweeted,Call it a hunch, but my guess is there are still ANTIFA thugs in the mix, which was shared more than 30,000 times.

And at 5:02 p.m., conservative author Paul Sperry tweeted that a source had told him at least 1 bus load of antifa thugs infiltrated peaceful Trump demonstrators, gaining nearly 67,000 retweets. Sperrys claim was soon picked up by right-wing news source Gateway Pundit.

Then, shortly before 10 p.m., Brooks, the Alabama congressman, shared a link to a now-correctedarticle from the conservative-leaning Washington Times. The story quoted an unnamed, retired military officer saying a facial recognition firm had identified two antifa activists from news footage of the Capitol mob. The newspaper subsequently apologized to the company and, in a correction, said it did not identify any antifa members.

Gaetz also shared the antifa claim in his Twitter timeline. Then Gaetz gave his fiery floor speech about the matter. It was met with groans and incredulity from many in the chamber.

Rep. Jackie Speier of California, a Democrat, said in an email to USA TODAY that Brooks words were an effort to spread misinformation and try to blame others for the assault on our government. She called it deplorable.

Show captionHide captionRep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., objects to confirming the Electoral College votes from Nevada during a joint session of the House and Senate to confirm the...Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., objects to confirming the Electoral College votes from Nevada during a joint session of the House and Senate to confirm the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol, early Thursday, Jan 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) ORG XMIT: DCAH352Andrew Harnik, AP

Until Congressman Brooks, Gaetz and the rest of them accept the truth and correct their lies, we will continue to face the death spiral of democracy as described by Sen. McConnell, said Speier, referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnells speech Wednesday denouncing lawmakers efforts to reject state electoral votes.

Gaetz's and Brooks' offices did not respond to a request for comment.

In the very moments before the siege began, some lawmakers espoused beliefs prevalent in extremist circles since the election.

The business of the day was whether to accept the presidential electoral votes presented by all 50 states. Ordinarily its a formality, but significant numbers of House members and a handful of senators threatened to object, citing fraud allegations by Trump supporters.

Just before the House chamber was evacuated, Rep. Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, was talking about one particular conspiracy theory: that voting systems made by the software company Dominion had been hacked to change votes. Gosar told the House around 2:15 p.m. that he had been given no access to the Dominion voting machines with a documented history of enabling fraud through its now discredited adjudication system, a system that literally allows one person to change tens of thousands of votes in mere minutes.

In the first week of January, Dominion was highly popular on both Parler and Telegram, according to data reviewed by USA TODAY and collected by researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland. The term often appeared with messages contesting the outcome of the Georgia runoff as well as the general election.

The discussion had its beginnings on fringe media in the days just following the election, when mentions of Dominion reached a high point.

Dominion is now suing Sidney Powell, a lawyer who worked on Trumps post-election lawsuits, alleging defamation.

Attorney Sidney Powell speaks during a rally on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Alpharetta, Georgia.Ben Margot, AP

Weve seen this happen again and again, honestly, where the misinformation starts on these fringe platforms and makes it all the way to representatives or Trump, said Gogarty, the Media Matters researcher. Dominion kind of followed the same trajectory as a lot of the other election misinformation, where it quickly spread from fringe platforms and Facebook groups. Then far-right media personalities picked it up, and then quickly it got to Trumps team.

But misinformation and conspiracy theories dont always travel in a straight line that ends with Congress or President Trump repeating a claim, Gogarty explains.

Its also a big feedback loop, she said. Trump and some of the GOP and Trumps lawyers will put out little nuggets thatll get picked up by right-wing media that will start spreading within social media.

That affirmation from politicians and public figures strengthens the claim, Gogarty said in turn vindicating those on the fringes to continue creating and reseeding these conspiracy theories and narratives.

Excerpt from:

How the antifa conspiracy theory traveled from the fringe to the floor of Congress - USA TODAY

Some conservative news sites have latched onto a speculative analysis to blame antifa for provoking the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt by Capitol Police.

"Analysis concludes Antifa provoked shooting of Ashli Babbitt at Capitol," read the Jan. 12 headline of an article published by news site WorldNetDaily.

"HUGE! Analysis of video of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt death in the Capitol shows antifa's actions led to shots being fired," read the headline of an article published by the Gateway Pundit.

The articles were flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The stories cite a video interview conducted by the Epoch Times, a Trump-supporting news outlet. On Jan. 13 in response to fact checks published by AFP and Lead Stories, WorldNetDaily issued a correction to the article and updated both the headline and subheadline.

PolitiFact has already examined baseless claims that antifa, a broad left-wing coalition of anti-fascist activists, was behind the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. But we wanted to look more closely at this "analysis" that was getting a lot of attention on social media.

The headline of the Epoch Times video does not directly mention antifa, but it suggests that "coordinated actions" resulted in Babbitts death. (It also misspells Ashli Babbitts name.)

In the Epoch Times interview, Masako Ganaha, who is described as an independent journalist in Japan, discusses an analysis she did of two videos that documented the shooting of Ashli Babbitt. Babbitt was a U.S. Air Force veteran and Trump supporter from California who died after being shot Jan. 6 by Capitol Police as she joined rioters who overtook the Capitol, disrupting the congressional effort to certify electoral votes in the presidential election. The U.S. attorneys office has announced that it has opened a federal excessive force investigation into her death.

In the video, Ganaha points out what she considers to be signs of antifa involvement. Shortly before Babbitts shooting, Ganaha says, one rioter, who is wearing a yellow flag like a cape, hands a helmet to another rioter, who uses it to begin to smash the glass on the door to the Speakers Lobby. Ganaha says that the hand-off of the helmet illustrates that the two rioters are antifa activists working together to incite the crowd.

After Babbitt is shot, the person who handed off his helmet is filmed running down a flight of stairs toward police officers and putting an article of clothing in a backpack, Ganaha says.

"He was leading the crowd and communicating with the other guy, and he was changing his appearance. How would a Trump supporter do that?" Ganaha says.

Ganaha does not provide any hard evidence for her assertions that the two rioters are antifa provocateurs. We reached out to her but havent heard back.

Ganaha also points to John Sullivan, a controversial activist who filmed one of the videos, and describes him as a member of antifa who helped incite the crowd after the Babbitt shooting by repeatedly exclaiming that Babbitt was "dead."

PolitiFact looked into claims about Sullivan and found that while Sullivan was at the Capitol, he does not identify as antifa nor as a Trump supporter. Rather, he appears to be a polarizing figure on both sides of the political spectrum.

Sullivan has told a number of news outlets, including PolitiFact, that he attended the Jan. 6 riot to document what happened. He has used anti-Trump and anti-police hashtags in Twitter posts, and he has been filmed using incendiary language in the past. However, Jade Sacker, a documentary filmmaker working on a project about Sullivan, and Sullivan himself have both denied claims that he is antifa-affiliated or that he led the charge on the Capitol.

No evidence antifa incited violence at the Capitol

The claim builds off the unfounded conspiracy theory that antifa drove the attack on the Capitol.

The rumor flies in the face of substantial reporting and documentary evidence. The march to the Capitol was weeks in the making, with plans indicating the potential for violence drawn up in the open on social media forums and pro-Trump websites. Video and photographs from the scene show Trump-branded paraphernalia and flags, and well-known far-right personalities and GOP politicians were filmed participating in the riot. Some even broadcast their involvement on live-streams.

The FBIs assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington field office, Steven DAntuono, said in a Jan. 8 call with reporters that there was currently "no indication" that antifa activists had disguised themselves as Trump supporters and carried out the Capitol riot.

Our ruling

An analysisclaims that antifa provoked the shooting of Ashli Babbitt.

The analysis consists of a series of speculative claims and inferences based on video of the Babbitt shooting.

Those claiming that the pro-Trump mob at the Capitol was incited by antifa have provided no hard proof of their assertions. The claims ignore substantial reporting and documentary evidence that the crowd contained Trump supporters.

We rate this Pants on Fire!

Continued here:

No evidence that antifa incited Ashli Babbitt shooting - PolitiFact

A substitute teacher seen on video falsely telling her students that "Antifa" stormed the Capitol on January 6 is no longer with the school.

The video was recorded inside a classroom at Edward W. Bok Academy South in Lake Wales, Florida. The school is a part of the Lake Wales Charter Schools (LWCS) system.

According to the Daily Dot, the video was taken by a student and the person addressing the students in it is a retired teacher who had returned to the school as a substitute.

Dr. Julio Acevedo, the director of human resources and transportation at LWCS, confirmed to Insider that the teacher who appeared in the viral video is "no longer with" the school or charter system.

Reports on TMZ and YourTango suggest the teacher was fired.

"We understand there's a video released and shared on social media of an incident on our campus. Our administration is aware. The substitute is no longer employed at our school, nor within the LWCS system," Damien Moses, Bok Academy's principal, told YourTango in a statement.

In a statement to TMZ, Moses said: "We met with her and she has been dismissed not only from our school, but also from the Lake Wales Charter School System."

Moses did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The video appears to have first been posted on the Instagram account Know Your Racists on Tuesday, where it has been viewed over 27,000 times at the time of writing, and was later shared to the r/PublicFreakout and r/WorldNewsVideo subreddits on Wednesday. At the time of writing, the two Reddit posts sharing the video had over 50,000 upvotes and more than 3,500 comments.

The two-minute video starts in the middle of the unnamed teacher speaking, and she can be heard saying that "supporters arrived and suddenly there was violence. Already, three of those had been identified as 'Antifa' members that were in the building."

"They were paid to be there, they were paid to be violent so that the Trump supporters look bad," she can be heard saying, repeating baseless, debunked misinformation that blamed last week's violent siege at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, by Trump supporterson "Antifa" members.

Read more: Only about 100 pro-Trump rioters have been charged in the Capitol insurrection so far. This searchable table shows them all.

In the clip, a student can be heard pushing back against the teacher's claims, saying: "Didn't Proud Boys and Trump supporters, weren't they the ones breaking into the Capitol?"

The teacher can be seen shaking her head and replying, "No. In fact, there's a video showing Trump supporters trying to stop the people from breaking windows."

It's unclear which video the teacher was referring to.

"Anybody can wear MAGA hats," she added.

A post shared by Remember (@knowyourracists)

Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6 in a violent riot while votes were being certified inside the federal building solidifying President-elect Joe Biden's 2020 election win.

About 100 pro-Trump rioters have been charged with crimes so far.

The teacher seen in the video embedded above may have been referring to the viral, false Washington Times article that claimed a software companyID'd "Antifa" members in the crowd storming the Capitol.

The facial recognition company, XRVision, told BuzzFeed News that the claims made in the story were false, and thatthe conservative news website "never attempted to contact XRVision to verify their false claim prior to publication."

The Washington Times later took down the story, but not before Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz cited it on the House floor.

See the original post here:

A Florida teacher was filmed falsely telling students 'Antifa' was behind the Capitol riots - Insider - INSIDER

The FBI is using social media to identify who the participants were and what their motivations were. USA TODAY

Often duringDonald Trump's presidency, we have seentwo realities.There are thecomplex and very real issues we've had to face as a nation, particularly as it has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Then there are the lies that Trump haspeddledto propel his ego-driven, autocratic agenda.

Trump's falsehoods are as frequent as they are normalized. But last Wednesday afternoon, ashundreds of insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol attempting to halt Congresss certification of the Electoral College votes that wouldconfirm Joe Biden as our nation'snext president, those lies turned treasonous and deadly.

As shocking as it was to witness the violence and mayhem in Washington D.C., it certainly wasn't surprising. For weeks after he lost to Biden, Trump floated baseless claims that rampant voter fraud had changed the outcome of the election. He riled his base at every turn and incited a mob of his supporters todescend on the Capitol to challenge his defeat.

Trump supporters storm the US Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021.(Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY, AFP via Getty Images)

Trump's mob wasn'tsuccessful in their efforts, but their destruction will have a lasting effect.Five people died, including a Capitol Policeofficer, and dozens more were injured.Property was damaged.Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers were under siege.America was changed forever.

Capitol police officers in riot gear push back demonstrators who try to break a door of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.(Photo: Jose Luis Magana, AP)

Could this finally be the moment? The moment when prominent Republicans who have walked in lockstep with Trump for years call foran honest reckoning of how we've devolved as a democratic republic and how we might rebound?

Of course not. Instead they floated conspiracy theories that disguised antifa and Black Lives Matters protesters were responsible for the attack on the seat of American government. Because the rioters were overwhelmingly white, it was hard for even Trump's most fervent supporters to blame Black protesters. So they falselypointed fingers instead at antifa, a short-hand term for the anti-fascist protest movement.

If the reports are true, some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters," Republican Rep.Matt Gaetz of Floridasaid from the House floor hours after the riot. "They were masquerading as Trump supporters and, in fact, were members of the violent terrorist group antifa.

Pro-Trump rioters descend the stairs outside the Senate Chamber as violence erupted at the Capitol after mobs breached the security and stormed the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington.(Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP)

An Alabama Republican, Rep. Mo Brooks, also weighed in on Twitter: "Please, dont be like #FakeNewsMedia, dont rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics."

Before Wednesdays riots,Brooks haddelivered an impassioned speechto Trump supporters, stating that today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.

Trump and his supporters are often swift in their disturbing attempts to pivot and duck when the fingeris pointed at them irreproachable and smug.AfterTrump grasped the gravity of the riot, he alsotried to place blame and deflect byprivately claiming that"Antifa people" bear responsibility for the assault on the Capitol, according to Axios.

For the record, the FBI on Friday debunked those trying to pin the blame on antifa or Black Lives Matter. Steven DAntuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBIs Washington field office, said investigators had seen no indication antifa activists had infiltrated the mob and wreaked havoc.

The Associated Press also found that the rioters wereoverwhelmingly made up of longtime Trump supporters, including Republican Party officials, GOP political donors, far-right militants, white supremacists, off-duty police and members of the military and those who subscribe to QAnon theories. The APreviewed social media posts, voter registrations, court files and other public records for more than 120 people either facing criminal charges related to theunrest or who were later identified through photographs and videos taken during the melee.

We all know what and who we saw broadcast on our televisions and in photos later published. Thosewearing red hats and carrying Trump or Confederate flags were aportion of his rabid and vocalbase we've witnessed since Trumpannounced his candidacy in 2015.And those same domestic terroristswent on toriot, vandalize and kill.

Rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021(Photo: Metropolitan Police of Washington DC)

Still, the conspiracy theory about interlopers storming the Capitol wasshared more than 150,000 times on Twitter and thousands of times more on Facebook by Wednesday evening, according to an analysis by The New York Times.Altogether, the accounts pushing the rumor had tens of millions of followers, the Times reported.

When will Americans tire of being lied to by those elected to represent us? When will Americans demand accountability? When willMAGA mediapersonalities be called on the carpet for stoking fears and floating fabrications?

What happened last week liessquarely on the shoulders of Trump and his misguided flock.Any attempt to excuse, rationalize,justify or lie about their treasonous behavior is almost asdespicable as their actions.

Trump supportersdid his bloody bidding. It's now time to sit with that knowledge and own it.

National columnist Suzette Hackney is a member of USA TODAYS Editorial Board. Contact her at shackney@usatoday.com or on Twitter: @suzyscribe

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Originally posted here:

Place the blame where it belongs. Trump's rabid supporters, not antifa, stormed the Capitol. - USA TODAY

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthyKevin Owen McCarthyMcCarthy won't back effort to oust Cheney GOP senators call for commission to investigate Capitol attack Here are the House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump MORE (R-Calif.) told members of his GOP conference on a call Monday that the riot at the Capitol was not caused by antifa, urging lawmakers not to further spread misinformation about the pro-Trump mob that stormed the House and Senate last week.

McCarthy told all members on the call that he has been receiving FBI briefings and it is clear that antifa was not behind this, one source familiar with the call said. That it was in fact right-wing extremists and QAnon adherents, and he urged members to stop spreading false information to the contrary.

McCarthys comments come inthe wake of Rep. Matt GaetzMatthew (Matt) GaetzThe Memo: Historic vote leaves Trump more isolated than ever Top Republican congressional aide resigns, rips GOP lawmakers who objected to Biden win House GOP leader tells members to quit spreading lies on riot, antifa MORE (R-Fla.), who made the unsubstantiated claim on the House floor that antifa was behind the violence that broke out at the Capitol on Wednesdayafter the riot took place in an attempt to delay the official count of Electoral College votes.

Other GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Mo BrooksMorris (Mo) Jackson BrooksBiden's new challenge: Holding Trump accountable Mo Brooks defends comments at pro-Trump rally after 'vicious and scurrilous' attacks House GOP leader tells members to quit spreading lies on riot, antifa MORE (R-Ala.), doubled down on the claim on Twitter.

"Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics," Brooks wrote at the start of a Twitter thread the day after the riot.

Please, dont be like #FakeNewsMedia, dont rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics.

Evidence follows:

McCarthy told his members it was determined to be right-wing extremists and supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which revolves around the idea that President TrumpDonald TrumpEx-Trump lawyer Cohen to pen forward for impeachment book Murkowski says it would be 'appropriate' to bar Trump from holding office again Man known as 'QAnon Shaman' asks Trump for pardon after storming Capitol MORE is working to expose an elite group of Democrats and media who are running an international child trafficking ring and controlling the government to try to undermine the president.

The FBI said on Friday that it determined that no members of the left-wing movement antifa were involved in the storming of the Capitol.

We have no indication of that at this time, Washington Field Office Assistant Director Steven D'Antuono said when asked about any potential involvement of antifa last week.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin separately also said last week that investigators had not seen evidence of antifa's presence.

More:

House GOP leader tells members to quit spreading lies on riot, antifa | TheHill - The Hill

PACIFIC BEACH (KUSI) Three people were arrested on Saturday after members of ANTIFA and BLM arrived at the scheduled, pro-Trump Patriot March at the intersection of Mission Boulevard and Hornblend Street in Pacific Beach, California.

The Patriot March was scheduled for 2:00 PM Saturday. However, before the march could begin, the group of ANTIFA and BLM members confronted the Trump supporters.

The members of ANTIFA were then met by police in full riot gear, which is when things began turning violent.

Police say members of ANTIFA were dressed in all black and threw rocks, glass bottles, and eggs at the officers.

There are multiple videos of the members of ANTIFA threatening and macing people who they came in contact with, including a woman and a dog.

One of the people who was assaulted by ANTIFA, was photographer John Cocozza, who happened to be driving by when the demonstrators were in Pacific Beach.

Cocozza pulled over and tried to capture the event with his camera, when an ANTIFA member assaulted him with a skateboard.

He explained that the pro-Trump crowd never even got to start their march, and ANTIFA began going after innocent bystanders.

Furthermore, Cocozza slammed the local media for refusing to name ANTIFA and BLM, instead saying counter-protesters.

Cocozza explained what exactly happened on KUSIs Good Evening San Diego.

Full interview with John Cocozza:

RELATE STORY: ANTIFA and BLM members confront Trump supporters at Patriot March in Pacific Beach

John Cocozza shows his back injury after being assaulted by ANTIFA

The rest is here:

Photographer John Cocozza assaulted and threatened by ANTIFA at Pacific Beach demonstration - - KUSI

The entire world was shocked by the scenes at Washington DC as scores of Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill while the US Congress was certifying Joe Bidens presidential victory. Since then, matters have only escalated with Big Tech deplatforming US President Donald Trump and pushing free speech alternative Parler offline. Now, another intriguing character has come to the fore. He is John Sullivan who uses aliases such as Activist X, Activist John, and Jayden X.

There is a lot of intrigue about him as no one appears to be sure who he is exactly. Those on the right-wing believe he is associated with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and the Antifa, which are known to riot and engage in unlawful activities. As per journalist Max Blumenthal, however, BLM and Antifa activists have strictly disassociated themselves from John Sullivan and considers him to be an extremely problematic individual.

John Sullivan shot to the limelight after he appeared on CNN for a chat with anchor Anderson Cooper regarding the video he had captured of Ashli Babbitt being shot by a law enforcement officer. Babbitt was a pro-Trump veteran who was shot during the protests at Capitol hill. On CNN, he presented himself as a heroic journalist who captured the shooting on camera. Anderson Cooper also called him a left-wing activist.

There is also videos of him participating in the riots, celebrating it and instigating the mob. John Sullivan says, Lets go! This sh*ts ours. F*ck yeah We accomplished this sh*t. We did this sh*t together!.. Were all part of this history.

In another video, he can be seen telling Jade sacker, who accompanied him on CNN, We did it. He tells her, Is this not gonna be the best film youve ever made in your life? Sacker apparently has a documentary project up her sleeve.

Max Blumenthal is an editor at The Grayzone, an independent left-wing media outlet. He has published a detailed report on John Sullivan where he has documented the perception of him among BLM activists and Antifa. According to the journalist, John Sullivan is best known among the left-wing crowd for his propensity for inspiring chaos, engaging in counterproductive tactics that often trigger arrests, and consistently undermining BLM objectives.

If theres violence to instigate, he will raise it to another level. But hes not the one that does it. And thats a dangerous type of person. Thats one of the most dangerous types of people to me, one BLM activist is quoted as saying.

On the 23rd of November 2020, Antifa in Portland is said to have issued an anonymous tip demanding that John Sullivan be locked out of their circles. While its easier, and generally more fair, to believe he is a naive narcissist, clout chaser and inept organizer, it might not be an accurate analysis. A narc for the feds might not be an accurate assessment either. Its more likely that John is an agent provocateur, putting activist communities in danger.

Sean Michael Love, a BLM activist, said of Sullivan, He always gets released and usually much quicker than everybody else. And thats just, you know, when you see that pattern, you wonder if theres something else going on.

James Sullivan, the brother of John Sullivan, does not appear to be too fond of his brother and holds him responsible for the Capitol Hill riots. I know that John [Sullivan] was one of the people that led [the riot], and helped organize it, James told Blumenthal.

And, again, what I said is that Antifa goes off of basic psychological warfare, and theyre seeing that the Trump supporters are very, very emotional kind of on a knifes edge [Antifa is] organized. You know, theyre a well oiled machine. So like, they planned this, to change the public opinion against Trump supporters, and to create anarchy in the country.

According to James, John Sullivan has mental health issues as well. What we [his family] have found out is that he is addicted to Adderall. He does not need to take it because he doesnt have ADHD. And what happens is that he becomes a little bit paranoid. Its very easy for him to to act cool, calm, and collected, but he flips on a dime.

According to James, John Sullivan radicalized by the death of George Floyd. Prior to that, John was on the Republican side of things as well. James said that John had defamed his family, called their father a White supremacist and accused James of being a wife-beater and abusing his children. James was referring to their adoptive father, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Sullivan. He is White.

James, who is a member of a right-wing organization, confirms that BLM activists were trying to get John out of their circles. James says that he had received calls from them asking for his help in the matter. They reached out to me, and they said, Hey, this is what Johns doing. Were trying to get this stuff done and hes getting people hurt and arrested. You know, and they dont need to be arrested. These are good people that are going to prison because John would incite violence.

James recounted further, John coming back to disrupt that is something that even [elected] representatives have come out against. And the Democrats do not want him here. Like, we have a unique political climate here in Utah. Theres no real chance of violence or anything like that here unless John comes back and starts igniting his group.

According to Jade Sacker, who had appeared on CNN with John Sullivan, he knew that people were going to storm the Capitol. She told Blumenthal, John knew somehow that people were considering storming the Capitol. He had had intelligence days before, and I didnt believe him. I never thought that something like that would happen. And then when we showed up at the Capitol, there were thousands and thousands of people there. I didnt think that we would be able to document what was going on. So when I said we did it, I was just shocked that we like got in there at all, and that we were on the front lines of being able to tell the story.

Sacker also conceded that his ultimate agenda is inciting as much chaos as possible. Hes just angry. And he says it in a lot of his videos Fuck the system, burn it down. He doesnt think it can be reformed. Like he kind of wants his civil war. Hes a bit of a provocateur and he wants to dismantle the system, and he believes in the value of civil disobedience. And because he is apolitical, I think he feels more a sense of allegiance to anyone who shares that the values of, I guess, chaos.

Blumenthal also says that there are conspiracy theories floating around that John Sullivan is actually a law enforcement asset. BLM activists certainly appear to believe so. Love said, I definitely think that mentally, he has some things he has to work out. But as far as him cooperating with the law enforcement, that has been our belief.

Sacker also told Blumenthal that right-wing circles believe that he is working with the FBI. John, however, denied the allegations. He also maintains that he is more on the BLM (Black Lives Matter) side, ending the police brutality, the racial discrimination but could not offer a coherent ideology according to Blumenthal.

The dominant narrative among the right-wing, however, is that John Sullivan is a left-wing activist. Fox News reported that the left-wing activist was charged in Washington and remains in custody in Toeele County, Utah.

John, however, maintains that it was an act to build rapport with the protesters. I had to relate to these people, and build trust in the short amount of time I had there to get where I need to go, he told Rolling Stone. To the front of the crowd to see the dynamic between the police and the protesters, because nobody wants to see the backs of peoples heads from a far-off distance.

Meanwhile, Jack Posobiec of OAN reports that Donald Trump is being briefed that John Sullivan did not act alone.

Read more:

BLM activist, Antifa, anarchist or FBI asset? What we know so far about John Sullivan, who was spotted instigating mobs at Capitol Hill - OpIndia

President Trump and close ally House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke about the Capitol riots Monday, and during their heated conversation, the president kept repeating a conspiracy theory that antifa was responsible for the violence.

McCarthy confronted Mr. Trump on this, telling him that it wasn't antifa and that Trump supporters were entirely to blame for the rioting, according to a person with direct knowledge of the call.

Axios first reported on Mr. Trump's attempts to blame Antifa during the call with McCarthy.

But the president also admitted to McCarthy that he is at least partially to blame for what transpired at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday, the GOP leader recounted to fellow House Republicans during a conference call Monday. Multiple Republicans familiar with the discussion with the GOP conference confirmed the details to CBS News.

The call between the president and the top House Republican came on the same day Mr. Trumpmet face-to-facein the Oval Office with Vice President Pence for the first time since the deadly siege, during which protesters were heard chanting, "Hang Mike Pence!" During his call with Mr. Trump, McCarthy also urged him to call President-elect Joe Biden, the source with direct knowledge of the call said.

However, any fraction of responsibility the president may have taken in that call with McCarthy appeared to have evaporated Tuesday. Twice, upon his departure for a trip to Alamo, Texas (not that Alamo), Mr. Trump called his address to supporters last Wednesday "totally appropriate."

"If you read my speech and many people have done itm and I've seen it both in the papers and in the media, on television it's been analyzed, and people thought what I said was totally appropriate," the president said. And he tried to suggest that elements responsible for "horrible riots in Portland and Seattle and various other places...was a real problem."

McCarthy's outreach to senior Republicans comes as the House is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment with Cabinet secretaries to remove the president from office. If Pence and the Cabinet do not do so, the House is expected to vote Wednesday on an article of impeachment against Mr. Trump, holding him responsible for inciting the mob that assaulted the Capitol, leaving five people dead.

While many congressional Republicans have voiced opposition to impeaching Mr. Trump for a second time, including McCarthy, a handful of Republican senators have signaled they are open to impeachment charges or have called on the president to resign before his term expires on January 20.

McCarthy's struggle with the president over culpability for the storming of the Capitol comes as Republicans are trying to shore up financial support from some of the party's most reliable donors: top corporations. Since the violence last week, several Fortune 500 companies and other entities that regularly give to GOP candidates or campaign committees say they now either plan to withhold donations from the 147 House and Senate Republicans who voted against affirming the Electoral College results or at least temporarily suspend donations to Republican candidates. Some companies are suspending all political donations.

While the decision has less of an impact on rank-and-file Republicans from reliably conservative districts, the freeze on corporate giving could adversely affect McCarthy's ability to continue raising money for his colleagues a key element in maintaining a firm grip on his leadership post.

In a letter sent to House Republicans and obtained by CBS News, McCarthy wrote that he remains opposed to impeachment, writing it would "have the opposite effect of bringing our country together when we need to get America back on a path towards unity and civility."

He said members across the conference had recommended other avenues to address the riots in the Capitol on Wednesday, including creating a bipartisan commission to study the attack, reforming the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and crafting legislation to "promote voter confidence in future federal elections."

The other option McCarthy mentioned was a resolution of censure, though he did not say who would be censured. The letter did not mention Mr. Trump by name.

McCarthy also reiterated to fellow House Republicans that he too believes the president bears some responsibility for the mob and assault on the Capitol.

The House leader was among many senior Republicans who spoke with the president during the assault on Wednesday and pleaded with him to call off his supporters and send military assistance to quell the disturbance.

Kimberly Brown contributed reporting.

Read more here:

House GOP leader says Trump both sought to blame antifa for Capitol violence and admitted he's partly responsible - CBS News

Brandon Mulder|Austin American-Statesman

Theassault on the U.S. Capitol Wednesday produced a flurry of interpretations that ranged from questionable to conspiratorial.

Many of these claims were spawned over social media and quickly became viral. Some caught the attention of political leaders, both on the left and right, who amplified themto their online audiences.

Below is a run down of some of theclaims that have been fact-checkedby PolitiFact.

As Trumps Save America March descended into a riot that saw protestors storm the U.S. Capitol as Congress sought to certify President-elect Joe Bidens win, many of Trumps allies tried to distance themselves and their supporters from the mob by blaming the violence on antifa,a loosely affiliated group of far-left anti-fascism activists.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was one of the first to do so, first over Twitter on Wednesday evening, then on Facebook Thursday morning. "Those who stormed the capitol yesterday were not Trump supporters. They have been confirmed to beAntifa," he wrote, citing a tweet that has since been deleted and a Washington Times article that has since been retracted. PolitiFact rated his claim Pants on Fire.

Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., also took to Twitter to ask his followers not to rush judgment on who was behind the riots at the Capitol Wednesday.

"Please, dont be like #FakeNewsMedia, dont rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics," BrookstweetedThursday.

But there have been no credible reports that people who identify as antifa "orchestrated" the riots at the Capitol. Because Brooks did not provide clear and irrefutable evidence, PolitiFact rated his claim Pants on Fire.

One of Californias highest ranking Republican leaders, Sen. Shannon Grove, also took to Twitter to perpetuate false antifa rumors.

"Patriots dont act like this !!! This was Antifa," she wrote in a Tweet, which has since been deleted.

Her post cited a separate tweet and photo from attorney and Trump supporter Lin Wood He claimed two men in the photo are affiliated with antifa.

But one of the men wasquicklyidentifiedbyjournalistswho track far-right extremism as aneo-Nazi. PolitiFact rated her claim Pants on Fire.

One of the reasons baseless antifa claims spread like wildfire online was a Washington Times story posted Jan. 6 with the headline, "Facial recognition firm claims Antifa infiltrated Trump protesters who stormed Capitol."

The story sourced information putatively from a Singapore-based facial recognition technology company that reportedly identified members of the mob as people with antifa ties. But the company the Washington Times sourced refuted the report, saying that it was never in contact with the newspaper about the story. By Thursday, the story was retracted. But that didnt stop social media users from sharing the story thousands of times. PolitiFact rated these claims False.

One of the most noticeable rioters in video and photos was Jake Angeli, who is known as "Q Shaman" and is easily identifiable byhishorned fur cap. Angeli is a well known Trump supporter and Q Anon conspiracy theorist from Arizona, where he regularly attends rallies in his iconic garb. In December, Angeli launched an online crowdfunding campaign to fund his participation in pro-Trump events.

But even he faced online allegations that he was an antifa member masquerading as a Trump supporter. In a tweet, he fended off those allegations, and PolitiFact later rated those claims Pants on Fire.

I am not antifa or blm," Angelis tweet said. "I'm a Qanon & digital soldier. My name is Jake & I marched with the police & fought against BLM & ANTIFA in PHX."

Wisconsin state Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, D-Milwaukee, expressed his concern over a woman who was shot and killed during the riots. In a Thursday tweet, he described the events this way:

"The Trump Terrorist who was put down during the violent mob assault wasnt (as they claimed) shot by the Capitol Police, they were (physically) on her side. Instead it was a secret service agent who discharged his firearm while doing his duty to protect democracy."

But it wasnt a Secret Service agent who fired at the woman. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said that it was a Capitol Police officer who was responsible for the shooting and has been placed on administrative leave. PolitiFact rated Brostoffs claim False.

Footage from a 2017 demonstration began circulating on Facebook this week that depicts police officers escorting a group of people many in wheelchairs down a hallway in the capitol building as they chant in unison.

But many people are confusing it with the events that happened in Washington last week, when a mob of President Donald Trumps supporters stormed the Capitol.PolitiFact rated these claims False.

One popular Facebook posttargeted four Democratic women in Congress by superimposing their faces in front of burning buildings: U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Each photo includes a quote purportedly from the lawmaker that sounds like she is stoking unrest. The post claims these are "direct quotes" from when Black Lives Matter "was BURNING down cities and killing people in the streets!"

Some of the quotes are legitimate, but some are outdated and unrelated to the Black Lives Matter protests, and others are taken out of context.PolitiFact rated the postMostly False.

View post:

From antifa to the man in the horned fur hat: PolitiFact checked the gamut of claims about the Capitol riot. Here is a run down. - Austin...

The following is a column of opinion and analysis. One of the saving graces of Americas greatness has been its 220-year legacy of peaceful, election-based transfers of power ever since a liberty-touting slaveowner named Thomas Jefferson took the reins in a similarly contentious race.

Last Wednesday, we tasted the political volatility with which so much of the rest of the world remains tragically familiar: one where the people must wait with bated breath after votes are tallied to find out whether the winner actually wins.

Multiple dice rolls had to come up 7 to avert a protracted constitutional crisis. Senate aides had to rescue the mahogany boxes containing the Electoral College votes, Vice President Mike Pence had to refuse to act like a robotic henchling, the storming of the Capitol had to backfire and force some Republican instigators to subsequently withdrew their objections to certification.

One cant help but wonder, had the Democratic Party brass and the pundit class not frightened rank-and-file primary-goers into putting their progressive aspirations on hold, would the same deference have been paid to self-avowed socialist Bernie Sanders?

Did Joe Bidens past opposition to desegregative busing, his tough on crime and Social Security-cutting triangulations, his time served as veep under the Deporter-in-Chief and Drone President, his billionaire campaign donors and looming cabinet of neoliberal shills in sum, his generic status as the Establishments establishment politician add up, in the recesses of enough of his right-wing opponents subconsciouses, to a comfortably corrupt return to normalcy?

How many more self-described patriots and prominent co-conspirators would have amassed in Washington at the Presidents incitement had a more ostensible Red Scare been on the verge of occupying the White House?

Like the child monster in The Twilight Zone with godlike powers of wish fulfillment, Donald Trump at long last seemed to display, if not shame or horror, at least some realization that his words brought us to a precipice. Such a narrow escape, however, can't offer much solace for anyone with a faith in democracy left to shake. These events have damaged the nave assumption that underneath all our vitriol, bad faith and bombast, given a crisis, well come together around a common purpose. The accelerating pandemic that continues to ravage our families has invalidated any bromides.

The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect the true America, do not represent who we are, Biden said.

Dont they though? Perhaps the rioters who besieged federal property over the past year under the diametrically antagonistic banners of antifa and of MAGA understand this nation far better than middle-of-the-road liberals and conservatives who had the gall to act surprised by this weeks abortive putsch. Democratic institutions dont stay aloft on autopilot, and court rulings and parliamentary procedures alone cant suffice to save us from demagogues, white nationalists and assorted conspiracist dittoheads in the future.

Instead of sighs of relief, we on the Left ought to be green with envy: if the Right can mobilize over fake crises, why couldnt we match their caliber of dedication in 2016 over a real one? Why werent Trumps pledges to bring back torture worse than water boarding, to go after family members of suspected terrorists, to deport en masse 11 million undocumented residents the logistics of which would surpass the Tear of Tears and Japanese internment in atrocity sufficient cause then to deplatform his hate?

Luck allowed us to bank on his failure to keep those promises, but had the military been amenable, is there any doubt he would have deployed it to indefinitely delay his departure? Why didnt we use any means necessary to prevent this man from ever taking office? In addition to the immigrant kids who died in their cages and untold innocent civilians scorched from afar, hundreds of thousands of Americans who perished amid a pandemic the White House all but ignored might be alive right now.

So, dont be fooled by the soothing portrayals of manifested destiny that may follow on Inauguration Day: the anti-fascists were correct all along.

Kevin Sanchez is a lifelong socialist who sometimes writes columns for the Current.Stay on top of San Antonio news and views. Sign up for our Weekly Headlines Newsletter.

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Last week's Capitol insurrection shows that antifa was right - San Antonio Current