To give you a sense of the article behind the conspiracy theory being pushed by McCarthy, Carlson, Greenwood, et al here’s the article’s description of the insurrection itself ... https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-sicknick-truth-movement-takes-flight-on-the-right

2/ In other words, the story now being pushed by Trump apologists suggests that the insurrection was basically a misunderstanding by some tourists who took a wrong turn at the visitors center.

3/ It’s not clear where the author of the article was during the insurrection. But he appears to be close to many of the organizers of the insurrection and spent the two or three hours of the insurrection tweeting out tweets to various prominent African-Americans to ...

4/ “learn their place” in American society and “take a knee” to MAGA. Examples here ... https://twitter.com/egsophie/status/1347197585686224897

5/ Beattie was, unsurprisingly, a Trump speech writer. He was fired after @KFILE unearthed evidence that he’d attended a white supremacist conference in 2016. He seems to have remained in close touch with the White House because shortly after the Presidents defeat he ...

6/ appointed Beattie to a commission charged with Holocaust remembrance.