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

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