Always Find a Boogeyman
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...a fact that the FBI made clear within two days of the riots, saying there was “no indication” that Antifa was involved in any way with the destruction at the U.S. Capitol.
Two months later, former FBI Director Christopher Wray reiterated this fact when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee: “We have not, to date, seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to Antifa in connection with the 6th.” When asked again if it were possible that Antifa members were impersonating Trump supporters that day, Director Wray again said, “We have not seen evidence of that at this stage. We have not seen any evidence of that.”
We recognize that some conservatives don’t trust the FBI and/or Christopher Wray so, for those of you who don’t, please at least believe the court records of people who were originally accused of being Antifa but who were really diehard Trump supporters – and have now been charged and sentenced for their violent actions on January 6th.
The examples are endless, but let’s start with these. On January 6th and for months after, a photo circulated showing two men dressed in black, smashing a window near the lower west tunnel of the U.S. Capitol. Multiple people repeatedly claimed the two men were Antifa, with one captioning it, “Suspected ANTIFA trying to break windows at the Capitol.” As the incident was taking place in real-time, one person was captured on video yelling at the two men, saying “Boo, Antifa!” “No Antifa! No Antifa! No Antifa! Antifa are breaking the windows!”
But the truth is both men were avid Trump supports. One of the men, William Lewis, was finally arrested in November 2023 on felony charges of assaulting officers and civil disorder. Authorities say Lewis, wearing black and using “what appeared to be a baton,” smashed in the Capitol window and sprayed wasp and hornet spray at officers three different times that day. In June 2024, Lewis pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.
The other man in the photo is Jonathan Munafo. Jonathan was known as one of Trump's “Front Row Joes” for his tradition of camping out at Trump rallies around the country for days on end to get a front row seat to see his hero. Munafo was not only charged with civil disorder for smashing the Capitol window with a metal flagpole, but also for assaulting D.C. Police Officer Neil McAllister, then stealing his riot shield.
Jonathan Munafo was sentenced to 33 months in prison for his actions that day plus, in a separate case, sentenced to 24 months in Michigan for making “profane threats of violence” in over 100 calls to a Michigan non-emergency dispatch center.
Yet another man accused of being Antifa but who was really a diehard Trump supporter – one who arrived in Washington, D.C. on a Hippies 4 Trump bus that was covered in Trump-inspired graffiti – is Paul Orta. Paul was spotted at the Capitol ripping down fencing and metal bike racks, yelling things like, “We’re taking that s--- today!” In October 2024, he was sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to a felony charge of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder.
A masked man who jumped through a broken window and kicked open a fire door at the Capitol was initially accused of being Antifa but has since been identified as Trump supporter Edward Kelley. Kelley, an anti-abortion activist, was recognized thanks to his sweatshirt that read TCAPP (“The Church at Planned Parenthood”).
In November 2024, Kelly was convicted of eight misdemeanors and three felonies for his actions at the Capitol, including civil disorder, destruction of government property, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. But these were the least of Kelly’s legal problems. Also in November 2024, he was found guilty on three additional charges: conspiracy to murder employees of the United States; solicitation to commit a crime of violence; and influencing or retaliating against federal officials by threat.
Although Kelly initially pleaded not guilty to these charges, his co-defendant in the case, Austin Carter, admitted to authorities that he and Kelly “unlawfully and knowingly combined, conspired, and agreed” to “murder employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” a plot that aimed to kill as many as 37 law enforcement personnel.
Perhaps the most famous video circulated by those trying to blame Antifa for the January 6th attack is one that shows several rioters at the Capitol trying to stop a man they insist is Antifa (even though he is wearing a green helmet with a Trump sticker on it) from breaking a Capitol window. Unfortunately for them, the man has now been identified as a Trump supporter who was charged with threatening a Democratic official in his home state, and who even appeared to give his name to a photographer at the Capitol.
One of the men trying to stop the man from smashing the window was Ed Badalian, a Trump supporter who traveled to Washington, D.C. to “arrest the traitors” with his friend Danny “DJ” Rodriguez, the man who was eventually sentenced to over 12 years in prison for attacking D.C. police officer Mike Fanone with a stun gun.
Mr. Badalian was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S., obstruction of an official proceeding and an additional misdemeanor count. At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson observed that Badalian “can’t let go of the false story of bringing down Antifa.”
After saying – in apparent frustration for being constantly interrupted – that it was “tempting” to lock him up for the full ten years the prosecutors were asking for, Judge Jackson told Badalian, “You are a legend in your own mind. A hero in your own head.”
This seems to be a theme among some Trump supporters who were at the Capitol that day. Andrew Taake pleaded guilty to attacking law enforcement officials with bear spray and a metal whip, but continued to claim Antifa “incited” the violence and that a majority of “the people attacking police” were Antifa – even though he himself was one of the people who attacked police.
Because of all the false Antifa talk on conservative media and social media, many Trump supporters came to Washington, DC expecting to find Antifa sympathizers all over the place. Former West Virginia Councilman Eric Barber, who was sentenced to 45 days in prison for breaching the Capitol, told the FBI, “I was going to be super hard and go punch an Antifa terrorist in the face. And I end up being the terrorist. Plot twist, huh?”
Don’t get us wrong, plenty of people who NO ONE would EVER mistake for Antifa were also at the U.S. Capitol that day. Far-right groups showed up ready for battle, and several had the intention of kidnapping and/or killing the vice president of the United States and other members of the U.S. Congress.
The Proud Boys were there. In fact, Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, appropriately known as “Spaz,” was one of the first to breach the Capitol building. The Proud Boys are a far-right nationalist group dedicated to “reinstating a spirit of Western chauvinism” in America. Before the Capitol riots, one of its leaders, Joe Biggs, wrote: “Every law maker who breaks their own stupid F---ing laws should be dragged out of office and hung.”
Followers of the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers certainly wouldn’t have missed the fun! The Three Percenters are a right-wing paramilitary-style outfit that named themselves for the three percent of the American population that fought the British Army in the Revolution. The Oath Keepers are a far-right militia-style group, largely made up of former law enforcement and military veterans. At the time, the FBI said the Oath Keepers “believe that the federal government has been co-opted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights.”
In the weeks before January 6th, Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, assured people that the group would provide security in Washington, with “some of our most skilled special warfare veterans standing by armed, just outside D.C.”
As the big day drew closer, the group encouraged people to join “President Trump’s fight to defeat the enemies foreign and domestic who are attempting a coup…prepare yourselves for whatever may come. Prepare your mind, body, and spirit for battle, and above all else, prepare to STAND!”
Almost a year to the day – January 13, 2022 – eleven Americans were charged with seditious conspiracy for their actions surrounding January 6th, including Stewart Rhodes.
Six months later, five members of the Proud Boys, including its former national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, were also charged with seditious conspiracy. Of the charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson explained that “the defendants’ actions showed planning, determination, and coordination.”
On May 4, 2023, after deliberating for seven days, a jury found Tarrio and three other Proud Boy leaders – Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl – guilty on 31 of 46 counts. The jury returned not-guilty verdicts on 5 counts and deadlocked on 10 others. Nordean received an 18-year prison sentence for his role in the January 6th insurrection, Joe Biggs 17 years, and Rehl 15 years. Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years.
You’ll be relieved to know that “Spaz” was acquitted of seditious conspiracy, though he was convicted of multiple other serious felonies – ultimately landing him a 10-year prison term.
At least four men who self-identify as Three Percenters were charged with conspiracy. On March 8, 2022, Texas Three Percenter Guy Reffitt was the first person to be convicted for crimes committed at the U.S. Capitol. He was convicted of five felony offenses, including obstruction of Congress, interfering with police, and bringing a firearm to a riot. He was also convicted of threatening his son, a teenager who turned his dad in to the FBI. Reffitt received seven years in prison.
At the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, appointed by Donald Trump, denounced the actions at the Capitol, making it clear that while everyone has the right to peacefully protest, people do not have the right to “storm the Capitol, carrying firearms, trespass, refuse law enforcement commands or to resort to violence.” What Reffitt and others did that day “is the antithesis of patriotism. Not only are they not patriots, they are a direct threat to our democracy, and will be punished as such.”
In addition to Stewart Rhodes, eight other Oath Keepers were charged with crimes from that day. At Rhodes’ trial, a former member of the Oath Keepers Jason Dolan testified that the group was ready to stop the certification of the 2020 election “by any means necessary.” He confirmed the group had stashed weapons in Virginia. “My thinking was you would have portions of federal government that would side with President Trump and parts that would side with President Biden.”
Mr. Dolan continued, “I wanted them to hear and feel the anger, the frustration, the rage that I felt. I felt they were betraying the country and I wanted them to know that and to stop doing it.”
Another former Oath Keeper Graydon Young testified that he truly thought the assault on the Capitol was going to start a revolution: “I felt like it was a ‘Bastille-type’ moment in history, like in the French Revolution. I guess I was acting like a traitor, someone acting against my own government.”
In the end, a federal jury found four people who were with the Oath Keepers at the Capitol that day – Sandra Parker, Laura Steele, Connie Meggs and William Isaacs – guilty of conspiracy to obstruct the work of Congress, along with several other charges including destruction of government property and conspiracy to prevent members of Congress from discharging their duties.
Rhodes and fellow Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs were convicted of seditious conspiracy, and Stewart, Meggs and three other Oath Keepers were found guilty of obstructing Congress.
Judge Amit Mehta handed Stewart Rhodes an 18-year prison sentence, complete with a domestic terrorism enhancement. During sentencing, Judge Mehta said, “I dare say, Mr. Rhodes – and I never have said this to anyone I have sentenced – you pose an ongoing threat and peril to our democracy and the fabric of this country.” He continued:
A seditious conspiracy, when you take those two concepts and put it together, is among the most serious crimes an American can commit. It is an offense against the government to use force. It is an offense against the people of our country. It is a series of acts in which you and others committed to use force, including potentially with weapons, against the government of the United States as it transitioned from one president to another. And what was the motive? You didn’t like the new guy.
Let me be clear about one thing to you, Mr. Rhodes, and anybody who else that is listening. In this country we don’t paint with a broad brush, and shame on you if you do. Just because somebody supports the former president, it doesn’t mean they are a white supremacist, a white nationalist. It just means they voted for the other guy.
What we absolutely cannot have is a group of citizens who – because they did not like the outcome of an election, who did not believe the law was followed as it should be – foment revolution. It would be one thing, Mr. Rhodes, if after January 6 you had looked at what happened that day and said … that was not a good day for our democracy. But you celebrated it, you thought it was a good thing. Even as you have been incarcerated you have continued to allude to violence as an acceptable means to address grievances.
In June 2024, when Donald Trump was running for re-election, Reuters reported this: “A dark SUV cruised past former President Donald Trump’s supporters near his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey on a windy April afternoon. Billowing from the vehicle were three flags: one for the Trump campaign, two others with the initials “PB” – the insignia of the far-right Proud Boys movement.”
“Through the open windows, three Proud Boys flashed the “OK” sign with their hands, a gesture often associated with white supremacy and the far right. Trump’s fans cheered. Four men dressed in the signature black-and-yellow shirts of the Proud Boys spilled out of the SUV and began glad-handing the crowd like homecoming heroes. The Proud Boys are back. Four years after the failed effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat, the violent all-male extremist group that led the storming of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, is rebuilding and regaining strength as Trump campaigns to return to the White House.”
But seven months after Donald Trump did, in fact, return – and after, on his first day back in the Oval Office, he granted clemency to every single one of the almost 1,600 Capitol rioters, including those who committed assault against law enforcement and those who were convicted of sedition – far right-wing extremist groups are being relatively quiet.
Why? Enrique Tarrio, still the chairman of the Proud Boys, explains it this way: “Things we were doing and talking about in 2017 that were taboo, they’re no longer taboo – they’re mainstream now. Honestly, what do we have to complain about these days?”