Was the storming of the US Capitol orchestrated by Antifa and BLM Organisers?

Question

I heard someone recently claim that the US Capitol riots were organized by Antifa and BLM organizers to make Trump supporters look bad and turn the Republican Party against Trump. They claim that the protesters that stormed the Capitol were actually Black Lives Matter and Antifa supporters, and that this had been confirmed with facial recognition software. They also claim that the ease in which the rioters were able to enter the Capitol proves that it was an inside job.

For example, Mo Brooks wrote in a series of tweets:

Please, don’t be like #FakeNewsMedia, don’t rush to judgment on assault on Capitol. Wait for investigation. All may not be (and likely is not) what appears. Evidence growing that fascist ANTIFA orchestrated Capitol attack with clever mob control tactics. [...]

Evidence, much public, surfacing that many Capitol assaulters were fascist ANTIFAs, not Trump supporters.

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has been making similar posting videos making similar claims on YouTube and Rumble. The videos have been deleted under Youtube policy, but can be found on his own website, in the section Censored Videos. CNN summarized:

Giuliani claimed in a tweet on Friday that has since been removed by Twitter that the Capitol siege was carried out "by groups like ANTIFA trained to riot." [...]

"We have people who invaded like Mr. Sullivan and his apparently Black Lives Matter directed group of rioters and looters and whatever else they are," Giuliani said in a Thursday episode of his podcast titled "Another FRAME UP."

I haven't been able to find any evidence that the storming of the US Capitol was organised by Antifa and BLM organisers opposed to Trump's administration.

Answer 1

Facial Recognition

False, this comes from a mistaken news article that has since been corrected.

A news outlet that reported that a facial recognition company identified members of Antifa among the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol has now apologised and issued a correction. Screenshots featuring the original report, however, continue to circulate on social media.

...

The Washington Times has since corrected and changed the original article (here). A correction note reads: “An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that XRVision facial recognition software identified Antifa members among rioters who stormed the Capitol Wednesday. XRVision did not identify any Antifa members. The Washington Times apologizes to XRVision for the error.”

Fact check: Facial recognition company did not identify Antifa members among Capitol mob (Reuters)

Inside Job

We're a long way from knowing the truth about this issue. Some are suggesting that GOP members of congress gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of the Capitol before the riot. Snopes currently rates this claim as unproven.

So was it actually BLM/Antifa?

I am not aware of any evidence of significant BLM or Antifa presence at the riot. On the other hand, it's very clear that many that were there were genuine Trump supporters.

Steven D'Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office, told reporters that investigators had seen "no indication" antifa activists were disguised as Trump supporters in Wednesday's riot.

The AP found that many of the rioters had taken to social media after the November election to retweet and parrot false claims by Trump that the vote had been stolen in a vast international conspiracy. Several had openly threatened violence against Democrats and Republicans they considered insufficiently loyal to the president. During the riot, some livestreamed and posted photos of themselves at the Capitol. Afterwards, many bragged about what they had done.

Who were they? What social media, other records reveal about those who stormed Capitol (AP via ABC News)

More about those arrested:

Key arrests so far from the Capitol riot (CNN)

Answer 2

The extent of the evidence to support the claim seems to be limited to one person who expressed anti-Trump views, who had a limited role in encouraging the storming.

According to an FBI document in UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v JOHN EARLE SULLIVAN:

[John Sullivan] is the leader of an organization called Insurgence USA" which organizes anti-Trump protests. In a July 2020 protest he said: “we about to burn this shit down,” “we got to rip Trump out of office . . . fucking pull him out of that shit . . . we ain’t waiting until the next election . . . we about to go get that motherfucker.” Sullivan lead the crowd in a chant of, “it’s time for a revolution.

Then at the Capitol storming on 6 January 2021:

Sullivan, prepared with a ballistic vest and gas mask, said outside the capitol:

There are so many people. Let’s go. This shit is ours! Fuck yeah ... We accomplished this shit. We did this together. Fuck yeah! We are all a part of this history ... Let’s burn this shit down

He physically helped people up a wall to get to the capitol.

He broke a window and entered a different broken window.

Inside the capitol he said:

We gotta get this shit burned ... it’s our house motherfuckers ... we are getting this shit

Sullivan tried to persuade the police to give up and said "Hey guys, I have a knife. I have a knife. Let me up" to try to help fight the police.

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As far as I currently know, Sullivan is the only anti-Trump person who helped orchestrate the storming.

Note: The self-description of Insurgence USA is "Insurgence USA was started in 2020 in response to the Gorge Floyd tragedy. The lack of care for the human life was unacceptable so we set out to end police brutality. We then set out to empower and uplifting black and indigenous voices."