Fact check: Misleading claim about 'antifa member' at Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Daniel Funke, USA TODAY
·7 min read
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The claim: A "known antifa member" was paid $70,000 for his video of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

As a special congressional committee investigates the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol, some on social media are still trying to pin the insurrection on anti-fascist activists.

Cue a widely shared meme on Facebook, featuring "The Office's" Jim Halpert.

"This is a known antifa member who was paid $70,000 for his Capitol riot video Jan. 6," reads text in the photo, which shows Halpert, played by actor John Krasinski, pointing to a whiteboard. "The FBI says they have no proof antifa members dressed as Trump supporters and caused the Capitol riot January 6, 2021."

The meme, posted by a Facebook page called Happy Hayride, has more than 600 shares. Similar versions of the post have amassed tens of thousands of interactions on Facebook and Instagram, according to CrowdTangle, a social media insights tool.

David Schell, a conservative meme-maker on Instagram, originally published the image March 5. The post features two photos of John Sullivan, a Utah activist who shot video inside the Capitol during the riot. Sullivan was later arrested.

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Court documents show news outlets paid about the listed amount – $90,000 actually – to use Sullivan's footage, which captured the shooting death of protester Ashli Babbitt. But Sullivan is not a "known antifa member" – and antifa activists weren't behind the Capitol insurrection, as the post makes it seem.

USA TODAY reached out to Schell and the Instagram user who shared his meme for comment.

An old conspiracy theory

In the days immediately after thousands of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, some conservatives tried to scapegoat antifa activists. Those claims didn't – and don't – stand up to scrutiny.

"Antifa," short for anti-fascist, refers to a loose coalition of left-wing activists that protest against white supremacy and far-right causes, sometimes using violence. Antifa is an ideology, not a single group. It has no leaders and is broken up into regional cells.

A group of Antifa protesters march toward the California State Capitol in downtown Sacramento.
A group of Antifa protesters march toward the California State Capitol in downtown Sacramento.

In the past, antifa activists have been wrongly blamed for murders, shootings and even wildfires. It wasn't long after rioters breached the Capitol barriers Jan. 6 that some pinned the attack on antifa activists, too.

The conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed antifa activists disguised as Trump supporters were responsible for the Capitol riot, traveled from fringe internet sites to the floor of Congress within hours, USA TODAY previously reported. Social media users falsely claimed facial recognition technology proved the theory, and that a supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, pictured wearing horns inside the Capitol building, was actually an antifa activist.

But claims that antifa orchestrated the Jan. 6 insurrection aren't based in fact.

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During his March testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau hadn't seen "any evidence of any anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to antifa in connection with the 6th." Hundreds of videos taken at the Capitol during the insurrection show rioters brandishing pro-Trump, QAnon and far-right paraphernalia. Hundreds of federal charging documents reveal that members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys, not antifa, participated in the attack.

In case after case, research into the backgrounds of those arrested in connection with Jan. 6 revealed a long history of supporting Trump and other conservative causes.

Sullivan was paid, but not affiliated with antifa

News organizations paid Sullivan tens of thousands of dollars for his footage from the Capitol riot. But he has denied any affiliation with antifa, and federal charging documents do not suggest he's linked to the movement.

Court filings show U.S. authorities ordered Sullivan to forfeit about $90,000 he made from selling footage he took in and around the Capitol building on Jan. 6. His video captured the death of Babbitt, a military veteran from California whom police shot as she tried to force her way through a hallway inside the Capitol.

That total included $35,000 that both CNN and NBC paid Sullivan's group Insurgence USA, an advocacy organization that protests police brutality, for the rights to his footage, according to invoices filed by Sullivan's attorney in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. also paid Sullivan $2,375 to use the footage.

But Sullivan is not a "known antifa member," as the Facebook post claims.

Court papers in his criminal case do not mention him being affiliated with any anti-fascist groups. Sullivan told the FBI he was an activist and journalist, despite the fact that he had no press credentials.

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PolitiFact, an independent fact-checking organization, reported in January that Sullivan's social media accounts frequently used hashtags associated with anti-fascist and Black Lives Matter activists. He has described himself as a Trump opponent and supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.

But Sullivan has repeatedly denied being associated with antifa groups. And local Black Lives Matter groups in Utah have disavowed him, accusing him of being an "agent provocateur."

USA TODAY reached out to Sullivan through his defense attorney, but he declined to comment.

Our rating: Partly false

Based on our research, we rate PARTLY FALSE the claim that a "known antifa member" was paid $70,000 for his video of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Court documents show news organizations paid Sullivan around $90,000 for his footage from the insurrection, but he is not a "known antifa member." Federal charging documents do not link Sullivan to any anti-fascist groups, and Sullivan has repeatedly denied being associated with the movement.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: John Sullivan not 'antifa member' at Jan. 6 Capitol riot