Trump supporter gets death threats after false Antifa accusation

Supporters of US President Donald Trump clash with security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021

Washington (AFP) - A supporter of US President Donald Trump said Friday that he has received a flood of death threats after being falsely accused of affiliation with far-left movement Antifa.

"People are sending me death threats every five minutes. I can't take it," Kristopher Drew of California, who asked not to be identified by his full name, told AFP.

The accusation stems from a video he filmed on the day that Trump loyalists stormed a session of Congress, interrupting the official certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.

In the clip, he said: "I just got back from storming the Capitol. We stormed it, we were successful."

He then mentions people on Facebook claiming that it was Antifa instead of Trump supporters who were involved.

"It was us. We proudly took back our Capitol," he said, referring to the president's backers.

That remark, however, was taken by some as an admission of responsibility by Antifa, a structureless movement that says it is dedicated to fighting fascism online and in public. It is a favored target of American conservatives, including Trump.

Lin Wood, a pro-Trump attorney, spread a post on Parler that claimed the video showed an Antifa member saying "they were the ones to break into the capital yesterday." 

The claim also appeared on video hosting site Bitchute.

Kristopher Drew said he is not Antifa, and that the original video he posted had been "cut up by people."

"I never went in the building, I was... outside, but I said 'we' stormed the Capitol, as like the group of people," he said.

For him, the claim about the video clip has turned into a nightmare.

"People are threatening me, and trying to hurt me every chance they get," he said.

© Agence France-Presse