Viral social media posts and a Republican House member have amplified claims wrongly identifying some right-wing figures at the U.S. Capitol riot as part of “antifa.” The claims feed into an unfounded conspiracy theory that anti-fascist activists in disguise orchestrated the event.
A Facebook post falsely claims that Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser “proposed using her power to remove” the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial in the wake of protests against racism. Bowser asked an advisory panel to review possible changes to D.C.-owned assets; she did not propose removing any federal monuments.
A meme is spreading a doctored image of the Lincoln Memorial covered in graffiti to falsely claim that protesters defaced the Lincoln statue. The image was taken from a thumbnail for a video on the conservative website the Daily Wire and shared as if real.
Online posts falsely claim that the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts donated $5 million to Democrats after it was allocated $25 million in the COVID-19 stimulus package. The center has not given any political contributions; it’s prohibited by law.
Q: Was a permit application for the March for Our Lives rally filed “several months” before the event on March 24?
A: No. A Washington, D.C., police officer erroneously used that language in an email exchange. Officials say the permits were requested in late February.
Q: Did the FBI raid Barack Obama’s Washington D.C. home?
A: No. That claim originated in a story on a self-described satirical website.
Sen. Ted Cruz distorted the facts in saying that Washington, D.C., and Chicago “for years” have been “right at the top of murder rates,” and claiming that most “jurisdictions with the worst murder rates” have “the very strictest gun control laws.”