Five enduring lies about the Capitol insurrection

The Capitol insurrection was based on a lie about the 2020 election. And for a whole year now, the insurrection itself has been lied about.

Donald Trump supporters' violent attack on the Capitol has been the subject of a dishonesty campaign that began amid the fog of January 6 and escalated even as the facts became clearer. Trump, some right-wing media figures and some Republican members of Congress have mounted a sustained effort to rewrite the history of that deadly day.

They have falsely claimed all of the rioters were unarmed. They have falsely claimed the people at the Capitol merely held a "protest" against an election they falsely claimed was fraudulent. They have falsely claimed the rioters were welcomed into the Capitol by police officers.

They have falsely claimed the riot was orchestrated by left-wing groups or the FBI. And they have falsely claimed nonviolent rioters are being jailed as "political prisoners."