WASHINGTON — Inside hours of the brutal attack last month on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, activists and media outlets on the precise began circulating groundless claims — nearly all of them sinister, and lots of homophobic — casting doubt on what had happened.
Some Republican officials quickly joined in, rushing to suggest that the bludgeoning of an octogenarian by a suspect obsessive about right-wing conspiracy theories was something else altogether, dismissing it as an inside job, a lover’s quarrel or worse.
The misinformation got here from all levels of Republican politics. A U.S. senator circulated the view that “none of us will ever know” what really happened on the Pelosis’ San Francisco home. A senior Republican congressman referred to the attacker as a “nudist hippie male prostitute,” baselessly asserting that the suspect had a private relationship with Mr. Pelosi. Former President Donald J. Trump questioned whether the attack may need been staged.
The world’s richest man helped amplify the stories. But none of it was true.
Listed below are 21 of the elected officials, candidates and other outstanding figures who spread misinformation or forged doubt on the attack.
In tweets, podcasts and TV appearances, these figures questioned whether the general public was being told the total story of what happened and in some cases spread theories that were unfounded.
Elected officials and candidates
Senator Ted Cruz
Republican of Texas
Amplified doubts that each one facts were being disclosed.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene
Republican of Georgia
Suggested Mr. Pelosi knew his attacker.
Representative Clay Higgins
Republican of Louisiana
Suggested the attack involved male prostitution.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson
Republican of North Carolina
Raised doubts about the small print of the attack.
Mary Williams Benefield
Republican statehouse candidate of Georgia
Suggested the attack may need been staged.
State Senator Wendy Rogers
Republican of Arizona
Suggested the attack may need been staged.
State Representative Anthony Sabatini
Republican of Florida
Suggested that the Pelosis are hiding vital information.
Representative Claudia Tenney
Republican of Recent York
Amplified a conspiracy theory about an extramarital gay affair.
Outstanding figures
Glenn Beck
Conservative commentator
Raised doubts about the small print of the attack.
Tucker Carlson
Fox News host
Raised doubts about the small print of the attack.
Dinesh D’Souza
Conservative commentator
Claimed the attack involved an extramarital gay affair.
Ryan Fournier
Founder, Students for Trump
Claimed details concerning the attacker were fabricated.
Sebastian Gorka
Former Trump adviser and podcast host
Raised doubts about the small print of the attack.
Pete Hegseth
Fox News host
Raised doubts that each one facts were being disclosed.
Megyn Kelly
Talk show host
Raised doubts that each one facts were being disclosed.
Elon Musk
Chief executive of Twitter and Tesla
Amplified a conspiracy theory about male prostitution.
Devin Nunes
Former representative of California
Repeated a false report that the attacker was in his underwear.
Michael Savage
Talk show host
Raised doubts that each one facts were being disclosed.
Roger Stone
Trump associate
Suggested the attack was staged.
Donald J. Trump
Former president
Suggested the attack was staged.
Royce White
House candidate of Minnesota
Claimed the attack involved an extramarital gay affair.
The flood of falsehoods showed how ingrained misinformation has turn out to be contained in the G.O.P., where the reflexive response of the rank and file — and even just a few outstanding figures — to anything which may forged a negative light on the precise is to deflect with more fictional claims, making a vicious cycle that muddies facts, shifts blame and minimizes violence.
It happened after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which was inspired by Mr. Trump’s lie of a stolen election, and in turn gave rise to more falsehoods, as Republicans and their right-wing allies tried to play down, deny or invent a distinct story for what happened, including groundlessly blaming the F.B.I. and antifa. Mr. Pelosi’s attacker is claimed to have believed a few of those tales.
“That is the dynamic because it plays out,” said Brian Hughes, a professor at American University who studies radicalism and extremism. “The conspiracy theory prompts an act of violence; that act of violence must be disavowed, and it could possibly only be disavowed by more conspiracy theories, which prompts more violence.”
The Justice Department moved swiftly to bring criminal charges against the suspect within the attack, David DePape, 42, who prosecutors said broke into the Pelosi home meaning to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and shatter her kneecaps, and assaulted her husband with a hammer, leaving him with a cracked skull. The San Francisco district attorney said it was imperative for prosecutors to present the facts to the general public, given the misinformation circulating widely concerning the case.
But by then, it was far too late. In a pattern that has turn out to be commonplace, a parade of Republicans — helped along by right-wing media personalities including the Fox Recent host Tucker Carlson, and outstanding people including the newly installed Twitter owner Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man — had already abetted the viral spread of lies concerning the attack, distorting the account of what happened before facts could get in the way in which. Finding life on far-right web sites and the so-called dark web, conspiracy theories and falsehoods leaped from the fringes to the mainstream.
Fringe Web sites and Mainstream Figures
Hundreds of posts containing conspiracy theories concerning the attack were shared on message boards, social media and in comments sections of popular far-right sites, in line with data from Pyrra, an organization that tracks fringe social media. Because the chatter picked up, several elected officials and mainstream right-wing influencers also shared their doubts concerning the attack.
Comments from fringe web sites mentioning …
“Prostitute” or similar terms
Other sex-related conspiracy theories
Doubts concerning the official account
12:23 p.m. A Fox affiliate in San Francisco
reports that the attacker was present in his
underwear. The error was later corrected.
A conspiracy theory circulates widely
that the attack was the result
of a sexual affair.
8:15 a.m. Elon Musk, the brand new owner of
Twitter, tweets a link to a conspiracy website
that baselessly claims that Mr. Pelosi was
attacked by a male prostitute.
Comments mentioning “prostitute” and
similar terms flood sites, reigniting
interest within the false theory.
5:06 p.m. On “The Big Sunday Show,”
a Fox News program, hosts raise doubts
concerning the official account.
10:04 a.m. Representative Marjorie Taylor
Greene, Republican of Georgia, repeats the
conspiracy theory circulated by Mr. Musk
and calls the media the “source
of misinformation.”
7:06 p.m. Jesse Watters, the Fox News host,
raises doubts concerning the official account of the
attack, saying that tumbler appears to be broken
from contained in the house.
8:43 p.m. Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host,
repeats the conspiracy theory shared by
Mr. Musk, joking that a outstanding liberal
influencer would claim that “Paul Pelosi
couldn’t be gay, not that it’s a foul thing.”
Comments from fringe web sites mentioning …
“Prostitute” or similar terms
Other sex-related conspiracy theories
Doubts concerning the official account
12:23 p.m.
A Fox affiliate in San
Francisco reports that
the attacker was present in
his underwear. The error
was corrected a
few hours later.
saturday, oct. 29
at 9 p.m.
A conspiracy theory
circulates widely that
the attack was the result
of a sexual affair.
8:15 AM
Elon Musk, the brand new
owner of Twitter, tweets
a link to a conspiracy
website that baselessly
claims that Mr. Pelosi
was attacked by
a male prostitute.
5:06 p.m.
On “The Big Sunday
Show,” a Fox News
program, hosts
raise doubts about
the official account.
10:04 a.m.
Representative Marjorie
Taylor Greene, a Republican
of Georgia, repeats the
conspiracy theory
circulated by Mr. Musk
and calls the media
the “source of
misinformation.”
7:06 p.m.
Jesse Waters,the
Fox News host, raises
doubts concerning the official
account of the attack,
saying that tumbler appears
to be broken from
contained in the house.
tuesday, nov. 1 AT 6 A.M.
8:43 p.m.
Tucker Carlson, the Fox
News host, repeats the
conspiracy theory shared
by Mr. Musk, joking that
a outstanding liberal
influencer would claim
that “Paul Pelosi couldn’t
be gay, not that it’s
a foul thing.”
Note: Roughly 9,500 comments that mentioned “Paul Pelosi” were analyzed from 16 web sites and a service that gives commenting technology for online platforms. Key terms, reminiscent of ”prostitute,” were grouped into the categories shown.
While many Republican leaders denounced the violence and a few, including former Vice President Mike Pence, expressed sympathy for the Pelosis, none of them publicly condemned the falsehoods their colleagues were elevating or did anything to thrust back on the false narrative. That left others to fill the void.
“Just produce the police body cam, — why is that so hard?” Mr. Carlson demanded on his show on Wednesday night. Addressing those criticizing the conspiracy theorizing, he added: “We’re not the crazy people; you’re the liars. There’s nothing mistaken with asking questions, period.”
The disinformation surrounding the attack on Mr. Pelosi presented lots of the standard elements of alt-right conspiracy theories, which relish a culture of “do your individual research,” casting skepticism on official accounts, and are inclined to give attention to lurid sexual activities or issues related to children, often driven by a fear of society becoming immoral.
Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation expert, said no amount of evidence — be it police body camera footage or anything — could get in the way in which of such falsehoods within the eyes of those that don’t want to consider facts.
“It doesn’t matter when there are documents or sworn testimony claiming something is, in actual fact, not the case,” Ms. Jankowicz said. “There can be an elaborate reframing effort. If the footage was released, people would claim it was fabricated. There’s no bottom.”
Most of the Republicans who amplified the fiction couched their comments as jokes, effectively pre-empting any criticism by suggesting they won’t be serious. Hours after the attack, Donald Trump Jr., the previous president’s son, shared online a viral image of a dressing up that included an oversized pair of men’s briefs and a hammer, remarking “the web stays undefeated.”
A spokesman for Mr. Trump said he “simply posted a joke meme and has at all times rejected political violence in all forms.”
Representative Claudia Tenney, Republican of Recent York, circulated a photograph on Twitter that showed a gaggle of young, white men holding oversized hammers beside a gay Pride flag, commenting simply: “LOL.”
Ms. Tenney didn’t reply to a request for comment.
It shouldn’t be clear whether the elected officials and media personalities who’ve trafficked in falsehoods consider the conspiracy theories they’re elevating, or just need to be rewarded by their right-wing base. In response to public polling, as many as 70 percent of Republicans still consider that Mr. Trump was the true winner of the 2020 election.
Mary Williams Benefield, a Republican running for a seat in Georgia’s statehouse, said she had responded online to a tweet suggesting the attack was staged because “the official narrative is unwilling to present all of the facts.”
“Possibly their daughter has a movie crew shooting a documentary on this too,” wrote the mother of three and former music teacher at a church school, making a reference to newly surfaced footage from a documentary Ms. Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra was filming that showed the speaker in a secure location in the course of the Jan. 6 riot.
In an interview, Ms. Benefield brought up a report that the police have debunked, which wrongly asserted that the intruder was dressed only in his underwear. The Fox News affiliate that originally reported the detail issued a correction saying the article had previously “misstated what clothing the suspect was wearing.”
That did nothing to vary Ms. Benefield’s mind.
“There’s a number of questions that have to be asked before there’s any legitimacy,” she said.
In response to federal charging documents, Mr. DePape was enthralled by the conspiracy theories which have portrayed Ms. Pelosi as an enemy of the country. His online activities show him ranting concerning the 2020 election being stolen, seeming to disclaim the gassing of Jews at Auschwitz and claiming that schoolteachers were grooming children to be transgender.
His attorney has said he planned to argue that Mr. DePape was so influenced by disinformation that it ought to be considered a mitigating circumstance.