Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., during a Senate hearing Tuesday read out a report claiming the Capitol riot was "probably planned" by people pretending to be supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Johnson read from the article, a first-hand account of the riot titled, "I Saw Provocateurs At The Capitol Riot on Jan. 6," which was written by J. Michael Waller, a senior analyst for the Center of Security Policy, and published by The Federalist.
Waller claims people "whom I presumed to be antifa or other leftist agitators" were the ones to attack police officers during the riot last month, which turned "unsuspecting marchers into an invading mob."
Johnson noted, Waller "said that the mood of the crowd was 'positive' and 'festive,'" and four types of people "stood out" from the rest of the crowd and "obviously didn't fit in."
He described those groups as "Plainclothes militants, agents provocateurs, fake Trump protesters, and then disciplined, uniformed column of attackers."
Johnson said, "I think these are the people that probably planned this."
According to Slate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, said at the end of the meeting: "I do want to make it clear that there are some items of agreement between most of us on this committee, and I don't think we should let the words of a few become the story here."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.