The Truth about the January 6 attacks With the start of the new year, we took the opportunity to comprehensively examine what is now known about the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Rather than a traditional fact check, we set out to detail for readers what is now known as fact, even as investigations continue. From the perspective of former president Donald Trump, the attack on the Capitol was the result of an election that he falsely says was stolen. Trump claims the attackers were mere protesters, falsely maligned by the media and his opponents. The reality, backed by law enforcement officials and the judiciary, is that Jan. 6 was the culmination of a sustained effort by a sitting president to overturn the election results. These are the key points we highlighted. - Trump inspired the attack
- Trump aides and supporters actively sought to overturn the election
- The attack was violent
- Trump took inadequate steps to calm the attackers
- Many Republicans and Trump supporters, at least briefly, were appalled
- Capitol Hill security was deficient in part because of concerns about Trump
This is a lengthy article not easily summarized, so please click the link to read our comprehensive report. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. Updating an old fact check Our policy is that a fact check is never finished — and should be updated in the light of new information. Last March, we awarded Two Pinocchios to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) for a claim he made about how stimulus payments would be made to prisoners — in particular Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston bomber. But previous stimulus bills passed last year under GOP control also did not bar payments to prisoners — and experts told The Fact Checker it has been difficult for many people in jail to receive payments. Well, it turned out that Tsarnaev did get a payment — a fact disclosed when the Justice Department asked a court to seize the money for criminal restitution he still owes. Cotton's press secretary asked us, in light of that filing, to revisit the fact check. We concluded Cotton's predictive powers should be acknowledged, and so reduced the rating to One Pinocchio, our version of "mostly true." The Fact Checker is a verified member of the International Fact-Checking Network. One of the core principles of the IFCN is to acknowledge mistakes and have a dedicated corrections policy. We go beyond that to ensure any new information is added to fact checks, especially if it might result in a new rating. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP and @AdriUsero) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
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