GOP aide Leslie Shedd barricaded herself in her office as pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. But as she prayed for her safety, friends were texting her right-wing disinformation as the attack unfolded, according to an account published by VICE.
"As friends and family texted to make sure she was safe, two claimed in separate conversations that the rioters were really left-wing agitators in disguise, not the Trump supporters who'd flocked by the thousands to a rally where the president claimed the election was stolen from him. A third floated a conspiracy theory involving the Capitol Police," VICE's Cameron Joseph reports.
One friend texted Shedd that the people storming the Capitol were really "BLM and antifa people" disguised as Trump supporters.
According to VICE, Shedd fired back at her friend, saying that she was locked in her office "and two bombs were blown up within two blocks of my office and like five blocks from my house, and a woman died."
"I really can't go down the insane conspiracy debunking thing right now. This was MAGA people and Trump supporters 100%. That is a fact," she told her friend.
Joseph writes that anyone with conservative friends and family who uses social media knows Shedd's ordeal.
"One-third of Americans have seen posts on Facebook or other platforms supporting those who stormed into the Capitol, three-quarters of Republicans believe the myth that there was widespread voter fraud in the last election, and a quarter of Republicans at least partly believe in QAnon, according to recent polls," Jospeh writes. "If they're not willing to hear out a friend who actually works in the government—and personally witnessed the Capitol Hill riots—who will they listen to?"
Read the full article over at VICE.