Academic group declares that the storming of the US Capitol was indeed a 'coup': report

After the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, PolitiFact published an article covering the conspiracy theories that sparked the riot. At the time, the article didn't conclude that what happened at the Capitol that day could be defined as a coup. But now, the academic center that was the major resource for the article's analysis says that the event can indeed be defined as a coup.

The Coup D'etat Project at the University of Illinois' Cline Center for Advanced Social Research says the events of Jan. 6 do fit the definition of an "attempted dissident coup" under the group's taxonomy, PolitiFact reported this Monday.

The storming of the Capitol "was an attempted coup d'état: an organized, illegal attempt to intervene in the presidential transition by displacing the power of the Congress to certify the election," the center announced on Jan. 27.

The group separates coups into three categories: coups that are planned but thwarted; coups that are unsuccessful after action is taken; and coups that are ultimately successful after action is taken.

Jan. 6 qualified as an attempted coup, the Cline Center decided.

Read the full report over at PolitiFact.