Old US Capitol attack footage misrepresented as 'civil war'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on February 13, 2024 at 18:59
- 4 min read
- By Roxana ROMERO, AFP USA
- Translation and adaptation Natalie WADE
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"AMERICAN CIVIL WAR: The US Army is deployed around the White House," says a January 27, 2024 post on X, formerly Twitter.
The post includes a TikTok video of people in fatigues in front of the US Capitol -- not the White House, as it claims.
Another X post sharing footage of troops in front of a different building says: "OVER 1 MILLION MILITARY ARE NOW ACROSS THE UNITED STATES TO MAKE ARRESTS."
Similar claims have circulated on X and other platforms -- including in Spanish. Many allege martial law has been declared, with one Facebook user linking the video to rising tensions over immigration.
The posts surfaced after a Supreme Court ruling that sided with the federal government in allowing Border Patrol agents to remove barbed wire barriers along the US-Mexico border. The ruling sparked a standoff between the Biden administration and Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, whose state continues to fortify the banks of the Rio Grande.
Abbott has invoked Texas's constitutional authority to defend and protect itself, but the footage is unrelated to his actions. It was taken in January 2021, when thousands of National Guard troops were sent to Washington after Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol while Congress gathered to certify Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
A reverse image search surfaced an X post shared January 19, 2021 with the same video (archived here). User comments suggest it was taken before Biden's inauguration.
MSNBC published similar footage January 14, 2021 (archived here).
"There are more U.S. troops in Washington than in Afghanistan and Iraq combined with new threats of extremist violence ahead of the inauguration," the caption says.
In the days leading up to Biden's inauguration, some 20,000 National Guard troops from six states and the District of Columbia were deployed to protect the Capitol and the White House.
MSNBC's footage and the clip shared online have several identical elements, including parked vehicles, a sign, cones in the street and a barricade.
The other video circulating on social media is similarly outdated.
A keyword search revealed CNN correspondent Manu Raju published the clip January 19, 2021 on X with the caption: "This morning in front of the Capitol" (archived here).
This morning in front of the Capitol: pic.twitter.com/fkm95tVIuO
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 19, 2021
AFP photographers also documented the militarization of the streets surrounding the Capitol in 2021.
AFP has fact-checked other false and misleading claims -- including misrepresented visuals -- about the US-Mexico border here.
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