No evidence to support claims of Antifa at Capitol riots
'They were masquerading as Trump supporters, and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group Antifa,' said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Without sound evidence, reports are beginning to swirl that anti-fascist activists invaded the Capitol on Wednesday.
According to NBC News, allies of Donald Trump are pushing the narrative that Antifa made up the violent mob that attacked the nation’s Capitol building, despite ample video footage of pro-Trump supporters terrorizing Washington, D.C. and vandalizing government property.
“I don’t know if the reports are true, but The Washington Times has just reported some pretty compelling evidence from a facial recognition company that some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. “They were masquerading as Trump supporters, and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group Antifa.”
Read More: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries says security at Capitol riots was a ‘failure operationally’
Trump has been promoting and encouraging his supporters to join him at the Capitol to contest the certification of electoral votes for weeks. He has also been tweeting out false statements that he won the 2020 Election and not president-elect Joe Biden.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump took to Twitter to announce he would be speaking at the ‘Save America Rally,’ anticipating big crowds. This rally eventually turned into the riots we witnessed yesterday.
Read More: Mark Zuckerberg announces that Trump is banned indefinitely from Facebook and Instagram
Despite a plethora of video footage and photos displaying Trump supporters waving flags and showing their solidarity with the president’s statements, his allies continue to put the blame on other groups.
“This is NOT a Trump supporter…This is a staged #Antifa attack,” tweeted Pastor Mark Burns.
With no evidence, Tom Basile of Newsmax also blamed what some are labeling as “domestic acts of terrorism” on other groups, per The Daily Beast.
“So that you have a complete picture of what’s going on, the last couple of times we’ve seen these rallies,” said Basile. “It hasn’t just been the president’s supporters. We have seen Antifa, we have seen Black Lives Matter, we have seen other leftist groups that have tried to stir up violence.”
Read More: Barack Obama calls Capitol riots a ‘moment of great dishonor’
Several people were left dead after the attack on the Capitol yesterday. One California woman named Ashli Babbitt was an Air Force Vet and known Trump supporter. She was shot during the riots and pronounced dead later that afternoon. Three others died of unspecified medical emergencies during the chaos.
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