REPORT: Far-right, fringe groups stormed the US Capitol, not mainstream Trump supporters

The Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutgers has released its findings of the insurrection attempt at the US Capitol, finding that "virtually all violent vanguard elements” of the rioters who stormed the building consisted of members from "predominantly far-right, fringe groups," not mainstream elements of Donald Trump’s base of supporters.

The study, released on Saturday, analyzed the sequence of events that led to the violence on Wednesday when Congress was in session to certify Joe Biden as the next President of the United States.

According to the NCRI’s findings, a sizable crowd of people who gathered at Trump’s 'March to Save America' rally broke off from the main crowd, which had peacefully assembled to see the President, to violently storm the US Capitol building where they overwhelmed police officers who were outnumbered by the mob.

"While a majority of attendees remained peaceful, many participated in the violent storming and looting of the U.S. Capitol building," the report reads. "These events saw law enforcement evacuate lawmakers, Capitol offices burglarized and left 5 dead and many wounded."

The report found that virtually all leading elements of the mob appeared to come from "predominantly far-right, fringe groups," including several white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations. Some members of the group included those present at the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, which saw the death of one counter-protestor.

The report named a preliminary list of groups involved in the riots, which includes members of the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group called the American Nationalist Party, and disgraced YouTuber Nick Fuentes’ 'Groyper Army,' which Rutgers identifies as a neo-Nazi hate group.

A member of the Proud Boys who goes by the name 'Noble Beard' denounced MAGA supporters who disavowed the riot by claiming it to be a false flag event staged by the left-wing group Antifa.

The report includes a quote from a video Noble Beard posted on Rumble: "It wasn’t Antifa, no it wasn’t Antifa. This whole f*cking narrative about - oh antifa did it antifa did it Antifa did it. It was not Antifa. Patriots finally grabbed some f*cking balls and decided to do something."

Nick Fuentes, who was identified for his presence by multiple outlets after appearing on a livestream at the Capitol riot, floated the idea of murdering legislators who certified Joe Biden’s win prior to the riot.

Following the riot, Fuentes begged President Trump to issue pardons to those charged in connection to the violence.

The mob included subscribers of the messianic QAnon ideology who interpreted Trump’s speech as a call to action and instruction to commit violence. The report offers evidence of the claim. Many members of QAnon wore signifiers of their participation in the conspiracy belief, which envisions an all-at-once-insurrection signified by the code WWG1WGA, or 'where we go one we go all' against lawmakers, whom they deem to be secret pedophiles.

It is notable that the crowd chanted these codewords en masse, moments before forcefully trespassing into the capitol building. Images from the incident show individuals associated with QAnon. One popular image shows a man dressed in a fur hat and horns who calls himself the 'QAnon Shaman.'

The report found that believers in QAnon, together with situational cues they believe came from the president, "created conditions that strongly favored mass enactment of its fantasy of insurrection."

The report suggests that high-profile figures associated with the President’s attempts to contest the election played a part in fomenting the riot, naming the lawyer Lin Wood for inciting violent sentiment and cueing instructions prior to the riot.

Lin Wood, a defamation lawyer and supporter of QAnon, frequently incited violence ahead of the January 6th incident at the U.S. Capitol. In recent times, Mr. Wood has closely been associated with President Trump’s legal campaign to secure a second term and with the legal effort to clear Kyle Rittenhouse, accused of killing two protesters in Wisconsin last year. Wood has been retweeted by the President multiple times and has an expansive audience. Wood has also called for the arrest and execution of Vice President Pence. A woman who was shot and killed inside the Capitol retweeted the attached Lin Wood tweet the morning she died.

Additionally, the report supports findings by The Post Millennial’s Editor-at-Large Andy Ngo’s claims that there is no evidence of widespread Antifa presence at the riot.

"The people occupying the Capitol building do not look like antifa people dressed in Trump gear or Trump costumes," he told the Washington Examiner. "I have seen no evidence that they are able to coordinate a mass infiltration on this scale before, so I'm really skeptical that they would have been able to do it here without any of that information leaking out."

Encrypted communications platforms tracked by NCRI show evidence of withdrawal and instructions to steer clear of the Capitol rally prior to the 6^th.

Violent rhetoric circulated on 8kun, the new home of the QAnon conspiracy theory, in the days preceding the riot at the Capitol, with many describing it as a “siege.”

"As many Patriots as can be. We will storm the government buildings, kill cops, kill security guards, kill federal employees and agents, and demand a recount,” urged on one QAnon believer.

On thedonald.win, a pro-Trump website, members posted instructions on how to access federal buildings, including the escape tunnels under Capitol Hill used to evacuate lawmakers. Users also used the website showing planning of the assault, with instructions to bring zip ties and handcuffs and suggestions for ways out of the city. One man, since identified as a decorated Air Force veteran, was involved in the riot and captured in a now-viral photograph of a heavily armored rioter with zip ties.