(Washington) Video surveillance footage recorded during the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol and recently released to the public has revived old conspiracy theories on social media, with encouragement from some conservative elected officials and media figures .
Utah state Sen. Mike Lee and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, staunch supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump, have added their voices to a sea of right-wing influencers who maintain that cameras filmed a man “disguised” as a Trumpist, wearing the iconic red MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) cap, and allegedly showing him in possession of a police officer’s badge.
“I look forward to asking FBI Chief Christopher Wray about this at our next hearing,” Mr. Lee said on the social network X.
In reality, the man who was filmed on January 6 is a Donald Trump supporter, originally from Chicago. He appears in a clip recently made public after new House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered the release of thousands of hours of surveillance video from the Capitol.
Kevin James Lyons, identifiable by his outfit in the video, worked as a heating technician until he was sentenced to more than four years in prison last July, according to court documents. Among the approximately 1,200 people arrested, Mr. Lyons was convicted on six counts.
The man is now the latest pawn in an online disinformation campaign, a tactic that experts say aims to distract from the former US president’s responsibility for contesting Joe’s election. Biden in 2020.
Another man charged in the Jan. 6 attack, Ray Epps, filed a defamation suit against Fox News in July after its former anchor, Tucker Carlson, falsely claimed on air that he was a police officer. American federal government, recruited with the aim of trapping Trump supporters during the assault on the Capitol.
“Disconnected from the facts”
Court documents indicate that Mr. Lyons filmed himself entering Nancy Pelosi’s office and posing with a stolen photo of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives’ belongings. He also pocketed a wallet and called the police force Nazis.
Other CCTV clips also prove that Mr. Lyons had an electronic cigarette in his hand – and not a police badge, as some claim on the networks.
Conservative anti-Trump elected official Adam Kinzinger responded to Mr. Lee’s statements on the social network, calling him “an idiot out of touch with the facts.”
“It’s an e-cigarette,” he added.
Congresswoman Greene and others have now retracted their statements, including the far-right website Gateway Pundit, after journalists and internet users combed through the images.
Keven Ruby, an investigator for the Chicago Project on national security and threats, said his team’s analysis of more than 1,130 cases found no evidence of infiltration of the Trump crowd by agents of the American federal police (FBI).
On social media, however, other conspiracy theories continue to circulate. A video showing a man being removed from handcuffs fueled new rumors of “double agents” until the man was identified and charged in October for the alleged attack on a police officer.
“Rewrite history”
Questioned on this subject by AFP, the FBI referred to the recent statements of its director, who “categorically” denied any orchestration of the violence of January 6 by the agency. A law enforcement source at the Capitol also told AFP that it was “false” to maintain that federal authorities were behind the attack.
Laura Thornton, of the transatlantic alliance “German Marshall Fund” in the United States, told AFP that responsibility for the events of January 6 lay with Mr. Trump.
During his meetings, the former president “presents the January 6 insurgents as “hostages”” of justice, she commented and he “promises to pardon them all”.
On his network, Truth Social, Trump praised Johnson for relaying the videos, saying they would “reveal what really happened” that day. He also shared a message from Mr. Lee, questioning how many members of the crowd were actually “federal agents.”
Michael Jensen, a researcher at the University of Maryland, said it was “virtually certain” that such claims continued to circulate online, especially after former Fox News host Mr. Carlson took on in turn of these theories.
“This is all part of a broader effort to rewrite the history of that day, downplay the seriousness of the crimes committed, and support the former president’s election campaign,” he concluded.