EEUU 6 ENERO MEMORIA COLECTIVA
(Picture: AP)Right-wing satire site The Babylon Bee appeared to push the baseless claim that the FBI played a role in the January 6 attack on democracy - by joking that there’ll be an FBI reunion event to mark the dark day.
The satirical post suggested that the event would be a means for “special agents to reunite as guests of honour”.
This all appears to stem from a fringe conspiracy theory that the FBI or members of Antifa incited the Capitol Hill insurrection, which is often pushed by very-online conservatives.
Fox News Host Tucker Carlson is one of the main figures to push the idea that the riots were a result of government agents.
Carlson even released a three-part documentary series pertaining to the claim that the FBI incited the events of that tragic day.
“But direct incitement by federal agents? The intentional entrapment of American citizens? No decent person wants to believe that. But increasingly there’s evidence it is true,” Carlson said, in Part I of the series titled Patriot Purge.
Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends spoke to Carlson about the series, asking him if the FBI pushed for the invasion of the Capitol.
“There were people working for the FBI in the crowd that day. This series is rock-solid factual,” Carlson said on air.
On Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade suggests that the FBI "was actually pushing for" the attack of January 6.
— John Whitehouse+ (@existentialfish) November 1, 2021
Tucker Carlson agrees and then absurdly suggests that the big WaPo feature on the attack published yesterday was only done in response to the trailer for his special. pic.twitter.com/rfEmiiuc5D
Others in the right-wing media sphere also tried to pass the buck from the MAGA faithful, blaming it all on left-wing activists from Antifa.
“Earlier today, the Capitol was under siege by people who can only be described as antithetical to the MAGA movement,” said Fox News host Laura Ingraham on her show the night of January 6 2021.
“They were likely not all Trump supporters, and there are some reports that Antifa sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd,” she continued.
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Ingraham did later acknowledge the inaccuracy in her sentiments after tweeting a link to the story debunking that claim.
Members of Congress, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, (R-FL) have also helped to spread misinformation about the riot.
“Some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters. They were masquerading as Trump supporters and, in fact, were members of the violent terrorist group Antifa,” he said.
