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Pro-Trump Capitol attack was about a 'cult of personality' over country: Former FBI counter-intel official
January 18, 2021
Former FBI deputy for counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi explained that one of the things he noticed in the recently released footage of the Capitol attack was that the insurrectionists exhibited more of a cult of personality than American ideology.
Speaking to MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Monday, Figliuzzi said that he watched the New Yorker footage released Sunday and witnessed the individuals carrying flags for President Donald Trump or Confederate flags -- there were very few American flags in comparison.
<p>At the same time, those who made it into the Senate chamber <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/rioter-ted-cruz/" target="_blank">spoke of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as if they knew him</a>. </p><p>"The other thing that jumps out at me from <em>The New Yorker</em> video is just the radicalization element here," he said. More trump flags than American flags. Comments like Sen. Cruz 'would find it okay that we're here.' We're doing this for Trump, an allegiance for personality over country."</p><p>He also discussed the recent report that every National Guard soldier in Washington had a background check from the FBI. Figliuzzi noted that background checks are helpful but that the indication of radicalization comes from social media and the FBI simply doesn't have the resources to search every Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok page. </p><p>"Nor may they even have the legal authority to do so. That's my concern," he said. </p><p>See the video below: </p><p><br/></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6b77ab15fe778fd154676b203774c4a6" style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="auto" type="lazy-iframe" scrolling="no" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4fTRf98r6Xc?rel=0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;" width="100%"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The cult of personality of Trump's insurrectionists</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fTRf98r6Xc&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p>
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Shocking video of Capitol insurrection shows rioter saying Ted Cruz 'would want us to do this'
January 18, 2021
Some Trump supporters in right-wing media insist antifa activists played a prominent role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, but video after video has made it abundantly clear that the violence came from a passionately pro-Trump mob. And one of the Trump allies who rioters mentioned while ransacking the Capitol Building that day made it clear he thought he was following the wishes of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Cruz joined President Donald Trump in promoting the false claim that the outgoing president lost to President-elect Joe Biden in November because of widespread voter fraud. In video of the attack that has been released by The New Yorker, a man can be seen looking through a binder on the Senate floor and saying of Cruz, "Look, 'objection to counting the electoral votes of the State of Arizona.' He was gonna sell us out all along."
<p>But a man in a red MAGA hat rose to Cruz' defense, telling the rioter, "Wait no, that's a good thing! That's a good thing! He's with us, he's with us."</p><p>Although the storming of the Capitol Building delayed the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory, it didn't prevent it. The joint session of Congress later resumed, and Cruz voted to object to the electoral vote in Arizona. </p><p>The two men, in the video, can be seen continuing to look through the binder on the Senate floor, and one of them said, "There's gotta be something in here we can fucking use against these scumbags. This is a good one, him and Hawley or whatever. Hawley, Cruz."</p><p><br/></p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4f5858dc9f2b2a14f2fc2a3105683cdd" id="48120"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1350821247228268546"><div style="margin:1em 0">Luke Mogelson, a veteran war correspondent, followed the rioters inside the Capitol on Jan 6. and captured the clea… https://t.co/Z3NnkrrPAb</div> — philip lewis (@philip lewis)<a href="https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/statuses/1350821247228268546">1610895857.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br/></p><p>The other man responded, "Hawley, Cruz? I think Cruz would want us to do this…. So, I think we're good."</p><p>The "Hawley" they were referring to was Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who has drawn widespread criticism for contesting Biden's electoral college victory on January 6 — and for a photo that shows him waving at the MAGA mob before he entered the Capitol Building and expressing his solidarity.<br/></p><p>The video shot by The New Yorker's Luke Mogelson also shows rioters, as they break into the Capitol Building, telling several police officers, "You're outnumbered, there's a fucking million of us out there. And we are listening to Trump, your boss."</p><p>Another one of the rioters can be seen saying, "Where's fucking Nancy Pelosi? Where the fuck is Nancy?" And another expresses his disdain for antifa, saying, "You afraid of antifa? Well, guess what? America showed up!"</p>
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Trump supporter who organized buses to DC swears Capitol attack was ‘staged false flag to make us look bad’
January 18, 2021
Cleveland's Brad Lynnet told BuzzFeed News that he researches everything before he believes it. After organizing buses to carry "372 patriots," Lynnet explained that none of them stormed the U.S. Capitol and it was all "staged false flag to make us look bad."
Thus begins the long and tedious march from the Trump world of propaganda and distorted reality to rude awakenings. Already Republicans are working to warp the reality around the Capitol insurrection to protect themselves.
<p>As the <em>New York Times'</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/us/politics/Capitol-conspiracy-theories-blm-antifa.html" target="_blank">Astead W. Herndon explained</a>, the history of the Trump movement has been filled with demands not to believe your lying eyes. It was the same effort White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany tried to do after police attacked peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square. </p><p>"So let me first address: No tear gas was used and no rubber bullets were used," she said at the podium. It was a lie and everyone knew it because it was captured on video and covered on every news station in real-time. Still, McEnany said that Americans shouldn't believe their lying eyes. </p><p>Trump used the same tactic during his first impeachment scandal. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/817c0c285bc9485d88608635e0fef3e3" target="_blank">"Read the transcript!" </a>Trump would tell people as evidence that he didn't attempt to bribe the president of Ukraine. "It was a perfect call!" It wasn't and it showed exactly what Trump said it didn't. </p><p>BuzzFeed interviewed 66-year-old Roxana Lawson who didn't attend the rally in Washington on Jan. 6 but is just as certain as Lynnet that it was all "a set-up so they can use it to pull the impeachment BS."</p><p>"I think they were Antifa and Black Lives Matter members dressed as Trump supporters, the ones that created the chaos," she said of the largely white crowd who came armed to the Capitol. </p><p>Law enforcement has already tracked well-known white supremacists and Trump allies who appeared at pro-Trump events all over the country before going to the Capitol. So, if they were faking it on Jan. 6 they've been faking it for several years. </p><p>"What inauguration you talk about?" 58-year-old Ioana Childers wrote to BuzzFeed on Facebook Messanger. "Biden will never be inaugurated." She claimed that Biden didn't win and the BuzzFeed reporter should open her eyes and "be part of the truth." </p><p>It's unknown how these followers will react when it becomes clear Trump is no longer in the White House. Will they think the inauguration is a Hollywood film? Will they create stories about liberals using a Trump hologram leaving the White House? How will they explain the sudden disappearance of their president to the golf course? Only time will tell. </p><p><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosiegray/trump-supporters-inauguration-future" target="_blank">Read the full BuzzFeed report here. </a></p>
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