No evidence of antifa involvement in Capitol mob, FBI says

[sabra]

Source: NBC News

Despite suggestions from conservative pundits and some Republican members of Congress, there is no evidence that anti-fascist activists were involved in the pro-Trump Capitol riots, FBI Assistant Director Steven D'Antuono said on a call with reporters Friday.

"We have no indication of that, at this time,” D'Antuono said when asked whether antifa activists had disguised themselves as Trump supporters in an effort to frame them for the violent riots in which five people died, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.

Immediately following the violence on Wednesday, conspiracy theorists, radical conservative activists and Trump allies took to social media and conservative news networks to make the evidence-free claim that antifa was behind the riots, reviving old rumors about anti-fascist activists long used in Trump campaign fundraising advertisements.

The false claims of antifa involvement in Wednesday’s melee spread early on social media from longtime Trump supporters, including televangelist Mark Burns and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. By evening, the rumors were being floated on Fox News and Fox Business Network by Sarah Palin and Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/2021-01-08-capitol-riots-electoral-vote-count-n1253384/ncrd1253528#liveBlogHeader

[Biophilic]

1. Damn and they were so certain Antifa was there.

Once again our brave boys did their job magnificently and then disappeared off into the night as silently as silently as Lindsay's tears. Way to go boys...and girls. I can't believe the FBI actually had to make a public statement about this. We really do live in LaLa land.

[sakabatou]

2. Still won't stop Trump cultists saying it was

[soothsayer]

3. Obviously but I applaud them for saying this

[Midnight Writer]

4. AG Paxton still going for the Trump pardon, I see.

[dutch777]

5. I don't know how much of an Antifa there really is, but the lesson in this instance...

...is that when people are showing themselves to be fools and liars and worse, don't stop them and don't get in their way. Having counter protests that turn into violent confrontation just lower the forces for good to the same low level of those they are protesting against. Make no mistake, I am not saying protests for BLM, Equality, Justice, etc. should not take place. They most assuredly should and I hope very publicly in increasing numbers as I truly believe if we leave politicians in DC and elsewhere to their own devices, until people are in the streets with their demands, progress will be slow at best. The staunchest right wing pol, when the commerce of his or her community gets stymied and impacted by peaceful and powerful public demonstrations of will and principle, will fold to the pressure. When we are not out, when we are silent and when we don't vote, they can tell whatever stories and spin their spin their way. When the loud voice of the people is on the march, in the street, going door to door with our neighbors, the lies and spin are defeated. Democracy is not an armchair exercise.

[Pantagruel]

7. "Democracy is not an armchair exercise."

Depends on how old you are, my marching years are past.
"Antifa" is an "invented" group solely for creating a false equivalency to the 30k white supremacist thugs that marched on the Capitol.

[dutch777]

8. So true

Everyone does what they can, but important thing is to do something for the good of all. I'd be happy if just half of the 60+ million who thought being MIA in the last election would re-engage and just vote. And I think you are precisely right about Antifa being more of a boogey man than a real movement.

[robbob]

15. I posted this on another thread:

Why would they ("Antifa", whoever they are) get involved?

Unlike the BLM protests of last summer, where (in some cases) RW groups infiltrated the demonstrations to stir up trouble and cause property damage, which in turn fed the Fox “News” narrative that scary black people were coming to burn down your suberbs, in the case of this insurrection there was absolutely NOTHING to be gained by leftists groups infiltrating the riots. Any idiot could predict that proud boys, oath keepers, trumpanzees in general were going to get violent. Why oh why would ANY outside group bother to infiltrate the party when it was obvious they were going to sully and disgrace their own cause, all by themselves.

And so they did.

[dutch777]

18. Indeed and well said. But the wingnuts need a narrative that its someone else's fault...no truth

necessary

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Tim Miller on Deadline White House insisted it was a coup

no doubt about it.

[mr_lebowski]

9. No shit? I'd be fairly surprised if FBI could find evidence for Antifa even EXISTING

in any sort of serious, organized sense of the word.

They're only slightly more real than Anonymous.

[moose65]

13. They don't exist in that way

Antifa has been around for a long time, but they are not one large, centralized group with a leader, a budget, or a national presence. Antifa is a belief system, and there are Antifa groups, but they are local groups and they don’t belong to any kind of national association.

Someone on here the other day compared them to feminists. There are many different types of feminist groups, but there is no centralized feminist organization that speaks for all of them.

The right-wing concept of Antifa doesn’t exist.

[mr_lebowski]

19. That seems like a good comparison other than the scale involved

Feminists outnumber 'antifa' by 1000's to 1, if not 10 of 10000's.

But yeah. It's like that.

If there's 10,000 people that consider themselves to be in any way 'formally' a 'member' of 'antifa' I'd be damn surprised. I think it's less.

[moose65]

20. You're correct

There are a lot more feminists that Antifans (I just made up that word).

You could also compare Antifa to vegetarians or vegans or doomsday preppers or, how about this one - Christians. 😆

[ForgoTheConsequence]

10. But I was told the guy with all the viking tattoos and history of racism was ANTIFA!

"No true Scotsman" complex or Trump brain rot?

[d_r]

11. deep state

sarcasm

also, it wasn't just Antifa it was "Fascist ANTIFAs" according to Mo Brooks.

[DBoon]

12. have they ruled out the illuminati and the knights templar as well?

If you are going to look into one loony conspiracy theory, you may as well look into all of them.

[kwolf68]

14. ANTIFA

Is the right's best friend. ANYTIME someone on the political right says or does something bad, just blame ANTIFA. Easy, done

[TryLogic]

16. Giving a name to persons or groups opposing fascism is a clever strategy - by fascists.

Providing a name to use in referencing the enemy, a name to attack and yell about and blame is very clever. It is a very common right wing Republican strategy. Persons or groups who advocate against fascists and fascism should be referred to as just that, persons (or groups) who speak out against fascists and fascism.

Right wingers also like to yell socialism when attacking their opponents. This is the same deal. Attach a name to your opponents and yell it repeatedly.

Can the media please stop falling for these tricks???

[dalton99a]

17. Kick

[apnu]

21. Will the y send a memo on FBI letterhead to Matt Gaetz?

Maybe Fox News?