On Saturday, CNN reported that the right-wing conspiracy theory that the rioters who invaded the U.S. Capitol on January 6th were a false flag planted by "Antifa" activists is being heavily disputed by members of the Capitol riot themselves.
"Many of the alleged rioters facing charges also embraced this conspiracy," reported Marshall Cohen. "But according to a CNN review of court documents, nearly a dozen defendants have explicitly pushed back, saying that they and other Trump supporters deserve the credit for storming the Capitol -- not Antifa."
One accused Capitol rioter, Jose Padilla, posted to Facebook, "There's a lot of memes and posts flying around saying that the people who were fighting last night were all Antifa provocateurs etc. I just want to say that as a first hand observer of every point of last night, that it was not Antifa. They were Patriots who were trying to Restore the Republic." Jonathan Mellis, another accused rioter, wrote, ""Don't you dare try to tell me that people are blaming this on antifa and BLM. We proudly take responsibility for storming the Castle."
Several Republicans have tried to blame the riot on left-wing provocateurs, with Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey calling the attack a "hoax" and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) saying that fake Trump supporters were responsible for the violence in an otherwise "festive" protest of the election results.
