© REUTERS / Stephanie KeithSupporters of Donald Trump clash with police at the west entrance of the Capitol on January 6.
The FBI is reportedly investigating a theory that a foreign government funded the Capitol riot, with US media strongly implying - as usual - the Kremlin has to be somehow involved. The reported facts, however, tell another story.
The latest excuse for people seeking to blame what happened at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on malign foreign powers came from NBC News on Sunday. The FBI, it
reported citing anonymous sources in the agency, is
"investigating whether foreign governments, organizations or individuals provided financial support" to the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the seat of the US legislature.
Part of the investigation focuses on
"payments of $500,000 in bitcoin" sent
"to key figures and groups in the alt-right before the riot," the report said, before explaining how separately US law enforcement agencies warned that
"Russian, Iranian, and Chinese influence actors have seized the opportunity to amplify narratives in furtherance of their policy interest amid the presidential transition."The bitcoin payment in question was
reported on January 14 by the blog Chinanalysis and first
highlighted by Yahoo News. The cryptocurrency amount of 28.15 BTC, which was worth around $522,000 at the time of its transfer on December 8, was sent to 22 separate addresses, with almost half of it going to Nick Fuentes.
The self-described
"American nationalist" was banned from YouTube for violating its hate speech rules
and is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump. He was seen at the pro-Trump rally in Washington on the day of the riot, but says he didn't take part in the violent break-in at the Capitol building that followed it. His rhetoric about the events, however, has been far from condemning, which led to his recent deplatforming by the streaming service DLive.
As reliable as a well-oiled machine, some readers got the cue and blamed the usual suspect - the Kremlin. Of course, it must have been Russia who sponsored the riots through untraceable crypto, called the favored payment method of drug dealers, hitmen and foreign meddlers. And the reported suicide of the French man, who allegedly sent the donations, looks very suspicious, Twitter cried in horror.
Or maybe not. The French newspaper
20 Minutes investigated the transfer and
found little in the way of James Bond-esque plots. The donor turned out to be a French conspiracy theorist and alt-right sympathizer, who apparently struggled with health problems before taking his own life on the same day he made the transfer.
He left a suicide message, automated to be published one day after his death, which a relative confirmed to 20 Minutes to be authentic. The post describes his eight-year-long struggle with health issues, including what appears to be severe depression, the French outlet said. He also shared his beliefs about what he called the
"decadence of the Western civilization" and other issues of importance to the far-right crowd.
The origin of his considerable bitcoin wealth does not appear to be mysterious at all: the French man mined some of it and purchased the rest in 2013, when the stash cost only about $3,000.
The US media and political circles have been for years obsessed with Russia allegedly being behind every bad thing happening in America - or at least being the prime beneficiary every time. To
cite Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with Trump
"all roads lead to Putin," though it's safe to assume that the outgoing president is not a necessary component to this maxim.
For those who would like to, the above article can be read in German [Link]
'80 MILLION KREMLIN AGENTS IN UNITED STATES'
"It took less than two weeks for the FBI, and other American intelligence agencies, to come to the usual (and expected) conclusion that Russia was somehow involved in the storming of the Capitol building in Washington on January 6th.Compared to previous developments, it took relatively long for the MSM and various “anonymous” and named officials to point the finger at Russia. Usually, the timeline is much shorter.
The initial discovery that supposedly points to Russia is that an individual in France carried out the biggest ever bitcoin payment in history, transferring $500,000 of the virtual currency to several “protest leaders” in the United States.
One of those that received payments is Nick Fuentes, and there is no evidence at all that he was present inside Capitol building, and he vehemently denies that he was. He was present in the demonstration in front, before the chaos. Other entities and individuals that received payments are the anti-immigration organization VDARE, alt-right streamer Ethan Ralph, and other several addresses who are unknown, but will likely be tied to “known far-right individuals or organizations”.
One should also be wise to remember how color revolutions take place in other countries, and that in many of them the touch of Washington is often found. Still, the FBI concluded that Russia (and China and Iran) allegedly used the chance to further their agendas, by pushing for political interests amidst the Presidential transition chaos in the United States. [Link]