Fact check: RFK Jr. repeats, and then retracts, long-debunked claim that January 6 rioters ‘carried no weapons’

By Daniel Dale and Marshall Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — In a formal written statement on Friday, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated the wildly inaccurate claim that the participants in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol “carried no weapons” – and then, three hours later, said he was retracting the claim because he had learned he was incorrect.

The claim that all of the January 6 rioters were unarmed has been made repeatedly by former President Donald Trump – and repeatedly debunked. But Kennedy nonetheless deployed the claim in the Friday statement that his campaign said was intended to “clarify his views on the events of January 6, 2021” in the wake of his campaign’s controversial comments, in fundraising emails earlier this week, that appeared to downplay the actions of some of the rioters.

After CNN asked the campaign for comment on Kennedy’s use of the false “carried no weapons” claim, and CNN and others published articles that called the claim false, Kennedy sent another statement saying he was wrong.

“My understanding that none of the January 6 rioters who invaded the Capitol were carrying firearms was incorrect,” Kennedy said in the follow-up statement. He noted that “several” rioters have been convicted of carrying firearms at the Capitol, while “others assaulted Capitol police with pepper spray, bludgeons, and other makeshift weapons.” He said, “This behavior is inexcusable.”

Facts First: The claim that January 6 rioters did not carry any weapons is not even close to true, as video footage showed that very day and as numerous court cases have further proven. People who illegally breached Capitol grounds during the riot were armed with a wide variety of weapons, including guns, stun guns, knives, batons, baseball bats, flagpoles and chemical sprays. The Justice Department said in its most recent update on Capitol riot cases that 122 of the people who have been charged in connection to the riot “have been charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon.”

Kennedy’s Friday statements

Kennedy’s initial Friday statement also included a hodgepodge of other claims about January 6, ranging from debatable to inaccurate, that have been promoted by Trump and other right-wing figures.

Kennedy issued the statement the day after his campaign tried to distance itself from its own fundraising emails that referred to people accused of participating in the 2021 riot as “activists” who have been “stripped of their constitutional liberties.” Kennedy campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear claimed that language was “an error” by a “new marketing contractor” that didn’t reflect Kennedy’s actual views.

In the Friday statement, Kennedy said that “it is quite clear that many of the January 6 protestors broke the law in what may have started as a protest but turned into a riot.” But he also pledged that, as president, he would appoint a special counsel “to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case.” And he said this: “I have not examined the evidence in detail, but reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection. They observe that the protestors carried no weapons, had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully.’”

About three hours later, Kennedy took back the “carried no weapons” claim. He added in the retraction statement: “I have never minimized or dismissed the seriousness of the riot or any crime committed on that day.”

Numerous January 6 rioters carried weapons

Special expertise on January 6 evidence was not necessary to know the “carried no weapons” claim is false.

Since early 2021, it has been clear from video footage that there were a variety of weapons in the crowd on Capitol grounds during the riot. Prosecutors have since obtained convictions against rioters who carried everything from a tomahawk ax to a hockey stick.

And while it is possible that most rioters were unarmed – we will likely never get a complete inventory of any concealed weapons carried by the many rioters who were permitted to go home without being searched – it has been proven in court that at least some of the rioters carried guns.

Mark Mazza of Indiana brought two loaded handguns onto Capitol grounds on January 6; he was sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to carrying a pistol without a license and to assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon (a baton). Another rioter who was armed with a gun on January 6, Guy Reffitt of Texas, was sentenced to more than 7 years in prison after a jury convicted him on multiple charges, including entering and remaining on restricted Capitol grounds with a firearm.

Christopher Alberts of Maryland, who had a pistol during the riot, was found guilty on multiple charges, including illegally possessing the gun on Capitol grounds, and was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Jerod Thomas Bargar of Missouri pleaded guilty to entering and remaining on restricted Capitol grounds on January 6 with a pistol and received probation.

In addition, Mark Ibrahim, who was an off-duty special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration at the time of the riot, has been charged with crimes including carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds on January 6; he has pleaded not guilty. And just last month, John Banuelos of Illinois was charged for allegedly twice firing a pistol in the air after having illegally entered Capitol grounds; his case, too, is unresolved.

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