Study shows most Capitol ‘rioters’ were NOT motivated by “Insurrection”

Harvard researchers said they were surprised to find out that most Jan. 6 protesters were motivated by loyalty to President Trump and were not attempting to carry out an insurrection, as mainstream media have uniformly portrayed the event at the U.S. Capitol.

The study was based on court documents from 417 of the more than 800 defendants prosecuted for the riot, the Harvard Crimson said in a report spotlighted by Just the News.

“The folks with QAnon T-shirts, and signs, and flags were so prominently displayed in much of the visual imagery that came out of the Capitol attack,” said Kaylee Fagan, one of the authors of the study.

“So we expected to see more QAnon-related concepts come through in the documents.”

About 20% of the rioters said they were motivated by support for Trump and the same percentage said it was about Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Fewer than 8% said they wanted to start a civil war or armed insurrection.

“I don’t think I expected the result to be this stark,” said Fagan.

The study was released as a working paper because it has not been peer-reviewed, the Harvard paper said.

Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@wndnewscenter.org.