Rumors began emerging from far-right circles claiming the pro-Trump mob of protesters that stormed the Capitol on Wednesday was made up or infiltrated by members of antifa, despite no evidence of this being the case.Several posts, particularly on the right-leaning social media platform Parler, shared images that posters claimed as evidence antifa demonstrators were behind the riot. The images did not, however, show any antifa involvement, and in many instances suggested ties to far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys, or conspiracy movements like QAnon. President Donald Trump, in a now-deleted video to his supporters, even acknowledged the group as his supporters, saying "we love you" and repeating a baseless claim the election was stolen from them. The riot began after Trump, speaking at a rally, directed the crowd to go to the Capitol.Related video: Trump urges Capitol protesters to 'go home now'One frequent act of misinformation being spread is to show a picture of a member of the mob of protesters side by side with a picture of the same person at a Black Lives Matter rally or among a group of antifa members. However these images often leave out context as to whether the person in question was at these rallies as an ally or a counter-protester to groups like BLM. A frequently employed example being the well-recognized man wearing a horned headdress who was a part of the riot. A picture of him attending a BLM protest is often shared suggesting he is secretly an antifa supporter, but while at the BLM protest, he held a counter-protest sign saying "Q SENT ME." The sign is often cropped out.On Twitter, there were more than 1,250 posts from accounts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory about Wednesday's protests containing terms of violence since Jan. 1. The most basic QAnon belief casts President Trump as the hero in a fight against the "deep state" and a sinister cabal of Democratic politicians and celebrities who abuse children.One post from a QAnon-related account retweeted a post with a baseless conspiracy theory that Democrats, Black Lives Matter activists, and Antifa protestors were planning to kill Trump supporters and advocated for whoever noticed these individuals to get "rid of them."Despite the lack of evidence, U.S. Congressmen, Louie Gohmert, R-TX, and Mo Brooks, R-AL, spread this conspiracy theory on Twitter. Later Wednesday night, Congressman Matt Goetz, R-FL, also pushed these false claims while speaking to the House. Lin Wood, a pro-Trump attorney who is involved with the QAnon movement, sent several viral tweets that falsely claimed that members of antifa were inside the Capitol. A commonly shared image he posted features a bearded man wearing a hoodie seen among the mob inside the Capitol posted with another photo of supposedly the same person, the second photo having come from “PhillyAntifa.org,” suggesting he is actually antifa.“Indisputable photographic evidence that antifa violently broke into Congress today to inflict harm & do damage,” Wood said on Twitter. “NOT @realDonaldTrump supporters.”But the page on phillyantifa.org is not of him being involved with the group, but of the group accusing him to be a member of a neo-Nazi group. CNN contributed to this report.
Rumors began emerging from far-right circles claiming the pro-Trump mob of protesters that stormed the Capitol on Wednesday was made up or infiltrated by members of antifa, despite no evidence of this being the case.
Several posts, particularly on the right-leaning social media platform Parler, shared images that posters claimed as evidence antifa demonstrators were behind the riot. The images did not, however, show any antifa involvement, and in many instances suggested ties to far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys, or conspiracy movements like QAnon.
President Donald Trump, in a now-deleted video to his supporters, even acknowledged the group as his supporters, saying "we love you" and repeating a baseless claim the election was stolen from them. The riot began after Trump, speaking at a rally, directed the crowd to go to the Capitol.
Related video: Trump urges Capitol protesters to 'go home now'
One frequent act of misinformation being spread is to show a picture of a member of the mob of protesters side by side with a picture of the same person at a Black Lives Matter rally or among a group of antifa members. However these images often leave out context as to whether the person in question was at these rallies as an ally or a counter-protester to groups like BLM.
A frequently employed example being the well-recognized man wearing a horned headdress who was a part of the riot. A picture of him attending a BLM protest is often shared suggesting he is secretly an antifa supporter, but while at the BLM protest, he held a counter-protest sign saying "Q SENT ME." The sign is often cropped out.
On Twitter, there were more than 1,250 posts from accounts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory about Wednesday's protests containing terms of violence since Jan. 1. The most basic QAnon belief casts President Trump as the hero in a fight against the "deep state" and a sinister cabal of Democratic politicians and celebrities who abuse children.
One post from a QAnon-related account retweeted a post with a baseless conspiracy theory that Democrats, Black Lives Matter activists, and Antifa protestors were planning to kill Trump supporters and advocated for whoever noticed these individuals to get "rid of them."
Despite the lack of evidence, U.S. Congressmen, Louie Gohmert, R-TX, and Mo Brooks, R-AL, spread this conspiracy theory on Twitter. Later Wednesday night, Congressman Matt Goetz, R-FL, also pushed these false claims while speaking to the House.
Lin Wood, a pro-Trump attorney who is involved with the QAnon movement, sent several viral tweets that falsely claimed that members of antifa were inside the Capitol. A commonly shared image he posted features a bearded man wearing a hoodie seen among the mob inside the Capitol posted with another photo of supposedly the same person, the second photo having come from “PhillyAntifa.org,” suggesting he is actually antifa.
“Indisputable photographic evidence that antifa violently broke into Congress today to inflict harm & do damage,” Wood said on Twitter. “NOT @realDonaldTrump supporters.”
But the page on phillyantifa.org is not of him being involved with the group, but of the group accusing him to be a member of a neo-Nazi group.
CNN contributed to this report.
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