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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also had Secret Service Protection during the "Save America" rally of Trump loyalists on 6 JAN....
Texas Attorney General advances antifa conspiracy theory after Capitol riot
By Brandon Mulder
January 8, 2021
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/08/ken-paxton/texas-attorney-general-falsely-states-antifa-storm/
Not long after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton addressed a large "Save America" rally of Trump loyalists outside the White House on Wednesday, they marched on the Capitol and breached the building as Congress sought to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
But Paxton had his own ideas about the mob carrying pro-Trump flags and signs.
On Thursday morning, he took to Facebook to advance a conspiracy theory that the people who overtook the Capitol were not Trump supporters, but members of antifa.
"Those who stormed the capitol yesterday were not Trump supporters. They have been confirmed to be Antifa," Paxton wrote. "Violence is not the answer."
Paxton’s post cited two sources: a screenshot of a tweet by right-wing journalist Paul Sperry and a screenshot of a Washington Times article with the headline, "Facial recognition firm claims antifa infiltrated Trump protestors who stormed capitol."
On Wednesday, as Capitol Hill police removed the rioters from the Capitol, Paxton published something similar. People who stormed the building following a Trump rally "are not Trump supporters," he tweeted, citing the screenshot of Sperry’s tweet.
"BREAKING: Former F.B.I. agent on the ground at U.S. Capitol just texted me and confirmed that at least 1 ‘bus load’ of Antifa thugs infiltrated peaceful demonstrators as part of a false Trump flag ops," Sperry’s tweet reads.
Sperry's tweet has since been deleted. Sperry, a former Washington bureau chief for Investor's Business Daily, has authored several anti-Muslim books with titles like, "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington," and "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America." He has not responded to questions sent to him via email.
Paxton’s second source alleging that Wednesday’s mob is "confirmed to be Antifa," the Washington Times article, was published about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday by news and opinion writer Rowan Scarborough. The story sources an unnamed "retired military officer" who told the Times "that the firm XRVision used its software to do facial recognition of protesters and matched two Philadelphia Antifa members to two men inside the Senate."
The newspaper has since retracted the report, but not before Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, cited it later that day on the House floor, saying that "some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters and were in fact members of the violent terrorist group antifa."
XRVision, a facial recognition technology company based in Singapore, issued a statement to PolitiFact and BuzzFeed News Thursday morning saying that the company sent the Washington Times a cease and desist letter asking it to retract the story and issue an apology. XRVision’s software identified two members of a Neo-Nazi organization and a Q-Anon supporter, not members of antifa. The company said it distributed that imagery to a handful of individuals for private consumption only.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/08/ken-paxton/texas-attorney-general-falsely-states-antifa-storm/
Texas Attorney General advances antifa conspiracy theory after Capitol riot
By Brandon Mulder
January 8, 2021
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/08/ken-paxton/texas-attorney-general-falsely-states-antifa-storm/
Not long after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton addressed a large "Save America" rally of Trump loyalists outside the White House on Wednesday, they marched on the Capitol and breached the building as Congress sought to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
But Paxton had his own ideas about the mob carrying pro-Trump flags and signs.
On Thursday morning, he took to Facebook to advance a conspiracy theory that the people who overtook the Capitol were not Trump supporters, but members of antifa.
"Those who stormed the capitol yesterday were not Trump supporters. They have been confirmed to be Antifa," Paxton wrote. "Violence is not the answer."
Paxton’s post cited two sources: a screenshot of a tweet by right-wing journalist Paul Sperry and a screenshot of a Washington Times article with the headline, "Facial recognition firm claims antifa infiltrated Trump protestors who stormed capitol."
On Wednesday, as Capitol Hill police removed the rioters from the Capitol, Paxton published something similar. People who stormed the building following a Trump rally "are not Trump supporters," he tweeted, citing the screenshot of Sperry’s tweet.
"BREAKING: Former F.B.I. agent on the ground at U.S. Capitol just texted me and confirmed that at least 1 ‘bus load’ of Antifa thugs infiltrated peaceful demonstrators as part of a false Trump flag ops," Sperry’s tweet reads.
Sperry's tweet has since been deleted. Sperry, a former Washington bureau chief for Investor's Business Daily, has authored several anti-Muslim books with titles like, "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington," and "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America." He has not responded to questions sent to him via email.
Paxton’s second source alleging that Wednesday’s mob is "confirmed to be Antifa," the Washington Times article, was published about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday by news and opinion writer Rowan Scarborough. The story sources an unnamed "retired military officer" who told the Times "that the firm XRVision used its software to do facial recognition of protesters and matched two Philadelphia Antifa members to two men inside the Senate."
The newspaper has since retracted the report, but not before Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, cited it later that day on the House floor, saying that "some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters and were in fact members of the violent terrorist group antifa."
XRVision, a facial recognition technology company based in Singapore, issued a statement to PolitiFact and BuzzFeed News Thursday morning saying that the company sent the Washington Times a cease and desist letter asking it to retract the story and issue an apology. XRVision’s software identified two members of a Neo-Nazi organization and a Q-Anon supporter, not members of antifa. The company said it distributed that imagery to a handful of individuals for private consumption only.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jan/08/ken-paxton/texas-attorney-general-falsely-states-antifa-storm/
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