Fact Check: An Arizona State Rep Claims Antifa Members Were ‘Confirmed’ to be at the Capitol
He repeated claims from an already-debunked Washington Times article.
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Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem released a statement in which he claimed “the use of facial recognition software” proved Antifa was present at the storming of the Capitol. He also wrote that participants were “positively identified as Antifa infiltrators.”
There is still no evidence that Antifa infiltrated the riot. Finchem appears to be referencing the already-debunkedWashington Times article that claimed that facial recognition software company XRVision identified two Antifa members among the rioters. They didn’t—in fact XRVision says it identified two neo-Nazis. As outlined at length in a previous fact check, numerous Trump supporters have been identified among those who stormed the Capitol. While it remains possible that out of the thousands of individuals present during the riot some may have been Antifa members, there’s nothing to suggest they led or incited the riot. In fact, Trump supporters discussed violence and attacking Congress at length in the lead-up to January 6 on pro-Trump discussion boards and social media platforms as well. And some known Trump supporters photographed and took video of their participation in the assault.
On Saturday, Jessica Davis, a press representative for the FBI, told The Dispatch Fact Check: “At this time we have no credible intelligence suggesting Antifa involvement in Wednesday’s criminal activity. However, the investigation is ongoing and we are aggressively working to identify all individuals involved, no matter their association.” Other officials with the FBI and the Department of Justice have made similar statements denying evidence of Antifa’s participation in the attack on Congress.
If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.
So, I agree Antifa didn’t have anything to do with 1/6. But antifa also says they’re not an “organization” and this guy was confirmed inside the capitol (he filmed the lady getting shot, actually) and a local Utah station interviewed him about it. He says he’s not officially Antifa, but if you have Antifa Instagram posts of how to build a guillotine and NYE break people out of jail party fliers, you’re not exactly NOT a radical either. It seems to me media would be able to be honest about this radical left guy being there to be like “look, violent radicals actually have a lot in common in the sense that they just really like to cause chaos and violence (also, they all live with their mothers) but instead everyone insists there’s NO evidence any Antifa people were there. I’m not calling you out here, at all. You’re fact checking a completely insane lie, for sure. But, again, it seems like often media and leaders are afraid to tell the complete truth if it lends any ounce of credibility to some crazier theory or argument (It was a false flag riot by Antifa, the riots were mostly peaceful, Trump’s refusal to admit Russia even tried to tamper with elections...etc)
https://instagram.com/insurgence_usa?igshid=1oxusb3pw4ehb
https://www.ksl.com/article/50083768/utah-activist-inside-us-capitol-says-woman-killed-was-first-to-try-to-enter-house-chamber
An AZ GOP rep you say? Repeating debunked pro-Trump misinformation you say? I just . . . I can't believe it!
Next, you'll tell me that Donald Trump did not really win the election! Oh Alec, you rascal you.
Seriously though, thank you for all of your work on the Sisyphean task of these fact checks.