Misleading January 6 video edit fuels FBI conspiracy theories
Conservative commentators are claiming a video compilation shows an undercover federal agent with an earpiece pulling Donald Trump supporters inside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. This is false; the edit combines unrelated clips of two different men charged in the riot -- one of whom wore a face mask with straps around his ears.
"Here's a possible Federal agent wearing an earpiece physically forcing people inside the Capitol on J6," says Rogan O'Handley, a conservative commentator who has previously promoted election disinformation, in a November 22, 2023 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The video, which O'Handley also published on Instagram, shows someone pulling people through the Capitol Rotunda's eastern door before cutting to a close-up of a woman speaking to a man inside the building.
"'Stop. Stop. No. No. You pushed us in. You were pushing us in,'" says text over the second clip. "The man she said pushed her in was wearing an earpiece."
Screenshot from X taken November 27, 2023
Screenshot from Instagram taken November 29, 2023
The edit has circulated since at least January 2022. But it resurged across platforms after new Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson ordered the release of thousands of hours of security footage from the Capitol riot, prompting a flood of posts recycling long-debunked conspiracy theories blaming undercover FBI agents for the assault.
More than 1,200 people have been arrested in connection to the attack, during which Trump supporters sought to halt the certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory. Trump is slated to go on trial in March on charges of conspiring to overturn those results.
The video spreading online does not prove FBI involvement -- it shows two unrelated individuals who have already gone to court for their roles in the riot.
The man caught on camera pulling other rioters through the door is Israel James Easterday of Munfordville, Kentucky, who in October was found guilty of six felonies and three misdemeanors (archived here and here).
The other man is Tyrone McFadden Jr of Baltimore, Maryland, who entered the Capitol with his partner and her cousin (archived here). McFadden pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Keven Ruby, a senior research associate with the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, previously told AFP his team's analysis of more than 1,130 cases related to the attack had found no evidence FBI agents instigated any defendant charged.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has also testified that his agency had "emphatically not" orchestrated the violence.
Easterday
Easterday, 21 at the time of his conviction, forcibly pulled other rioters into the Capitol after blasting police officers outside with pepper spray, according to court filings (archived here).
He carried a Confederate battle flag and wore a beanie that said "I (heart) Trump."
Screenshot from US Justice Department filings taken November 29, 2023Charging documents identified Easterday in surveillance footage that has also been publicly released (archived here).
Easterday's attorneys said in a motion that his mother raised him Amish. He worked on his family's farm as their "primary cow-milker" from the age of five to 18 and a half (archived here).
After that, he worked with his uncle constructing houses in addition to farming and building a home in Bonnieville, Kentucky.
McFadden
Journalists and online sleuths identified the second man in the video compilation as McFadden -- and the woman speaking to him as his partner Carrie Ann Williams.
The two traveled from Baltimore to Washington with Williams's cousin Aaron Mileur, who was visiting from Alaska and wanted to see Trump speak, according to court documents (archived here).
McFadden and Williams later claimed in an interview that they did not support Trump but got swept up in the chaos (archived here).
The three were among the first rioters to enter the Capitol. They appear in surveillance footage and videos Mileur uploaded to Facebook.
McFadden, Williams and Mileur have since pleaded guilty to charges of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Each was sentenced in March to 24 months of probation (archived here, here and here).
Court records and a YouTube interview show McFadden, identifiable by his striped hooded sweatshirt, was wearing a face mask with straps that wrapped around his ears (archived here).
Screenshot from US Justice Department filings taken November 29, 2023The straps appear to be the claimed "earpiece" in the video circulating online.
Court documents say McFadden was unemployed but reported that he operated a landscaping business for income (archived here). Williams worked as a cashier at a convenience store, and Mileur worked at a small company after serving in the Air Force (archived here and here).
Both McFadden and Williams had prior criminal history.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the January 6 attack here.
