AOC Opponent Attended Capitol Riot, Shared QAnon Theories: Report

ASTORIA, QUEENS — “We’re fighting for the freedom of our country, the Constitution. This is what Nancy did to our constitution,” said a woman in a live-streamed video from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which was filmed in front of a massive poster depicting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi menacingly ripping apart the Constitution.

The woman, who is wearing a “Trump 2020” beanie in the video, is Tina Forte, a Republican running to claim U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s congressional seat in the 2022 elections, a new report by Snopes shows.

Forte not only promoted and attended the deadly Jan. 6 attack against the Capitol, but also repeatedly mentioned QAnon conspiracy theories — about voter fraud and a global child-trafficking conspiracy run by Democrats — on social media, Snopes found.

Patch reached out to Forte about these claims, but she did not immediately respond.

Many of Forte’s posts, including videos taken at the Capitol riot and posts that mention QAnon conspiracy theories, are still up on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, Snopes reported.

Forte’s Instagram account was no longer available hours after the site published its report about her. This is Forte’s second account to be removed from the platform, according to Snopes.

In response to an inquiry from Snopes, a Facebook spokesperson told the site that it removed several of Forte’s posts that were in violation of the company’s policies, including posts that promoted election conspiracy theories, and a photo of Forte praising a Proud Boys leader.

Twitter told Snopes that Forte’s account “is not currently in violation of the Twitter Rules.”

In the days leading up to Snopes’ investigation, Forte made an appearance at a school board meeting, where she protested children wearing masks at school for protection against the coronavirus. Her rant came as the number of kids hospitalized with COVID hit record highs nationally, amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

Ocasio-Cortez, who did not respond to Snope’s request for comment about Forte, recently said that she is uncertain about what is in store for her political future.

When asked by CNN if she might challenge Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a 2022 primary, Ocasio-Cortez said she is not focused on “trying to be aspiring to other things or calculating to other things” — but didn’t rule out that possibility.

Read the full Snopes report on Tina Forte here.