President Trump reportedly blamed antifa for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The president spoke with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Monday, and during their 30-minute-plus conversation, Trump blamed “Antifa people” for the deadly riots, according to Axios, which cited a White House official and another source familiar with the call. The FBI has found no evidence antifa instigated the rioting, the agency said Friday.
McCarthy, during the conversation, pushed back on the president’s notion, reportedly saying, “It’s not antifa, it’s MAGA. I know. I was there.” The conversation was tense at times, and at one point, the minority leader stopped the president while he was discussing election fraud to say, “Stop it. It’s over. The election is over.”
The president, while addressing thousands of his supporters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, encouraged them to pressure lawmakers into overturning the election as they were certifying it for President-elect Joe Biden. The supporters stormed the Capitol and pandemonium ensued, which led to five deaths, a lockdown of the Capitol, and dozens of arrests, but it only temporarily halted Congress before it certified the Electoral College votes for Biden.
McCarthy also urged the president to call Biden, meet with him, and follow the tradition of leaving a welcome letter in the Resolute Desk for Biden. Neither the White House nor McCarthy’s office immediately responded to a request for comment.
In a conference call with party members also on Monday, the House minority leader said there is “undisputedly” no evidence to prove the claim that antifa was involved in last week’s fiasco.
Some members of his party have pushed the narrative, occasionally referencing a now-retracted story from the Washington Times that erroneously claimed that a facial recognition company positively identified antifa members among the crowd at the Capitol.
FBI special agent-in-charge Steven D’Antuono of the Washington field office told reporters Friday that “we have no indication of that at this time,” when he was asked about claims that the storming of the Capitol was fomented by antifa infiltrators.
