Rhode Island Republican state Rep. Justin Price marched to the U.S. Capitol on January 6 for what became the deadly pro-Trump riot. Price has also promoted coronavirus and QAnon conspiracy theories that originated from social media and far-right media.
Price is yet another example of how Republican officials have embraced and been influenced by toxic social media and right-wing outlets that traffic in conspiracy theories.
Price is facing calls from fellow Rhode Island lawmakers to resign after his participation in the January 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C. He has responded by tweeting that he “marched to the capitol with 1 million peaceful patriots” and by echoing right-wing media by falsely claiming: “Unfortunately ANTIFA /BLM infiltrated our peaceful movement and they got caught in the act.” He has said that he did not enter the Capitol building.
The Boston Globe wrote that “Price traveled to Washington one day after refusing to wear a face mask when the House convened at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium for the opening day of the 2021 legislative session. He ended up being sworn in and voting in a separate room along with Representative Robert J. Quattrocchi, a Scituate Republican who also did not wear a mask.”
On Twitter, Price has repeatedly promoted right-wing media conspiracy theories.
In one instance, Price retweeted someone who downplayed the severity of the coronavirus and posted several QAnon hashtags. QAnon is a violence-linked conspiracy theory that originated with online message boards and essentially claims that President Donald Trump is secretly working to take down a supposed cabal of high-ranking officials who are operating pedophile rings. QAnon supporters participated in the January 6 riot.
Price has also promoted content from Alex Jones’ Infowars website. Jones has pushed conspiracy theories about 9/11 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and provided funding and organization for the January 6 insurrection attempt.
One of his tweets links to an Infowars article -- no longer online -- that falsely linked the Gates Foundation to the coronavirus outbreak and also pushed the false conspiracy theory that Gates plans to microchip people through coronavirus vaccines.
