Video makes it look like left-leaning groups plotted post-election coup. That’s not the whole story

A video spreading online claims to show Democrats and other left-leaning groups plotting a post-election coup if President Donald Trump won re-election, including the takeover of major U.S. cities and government buildings including the White House.

But the 34-minute video, posted on YouTube, was deceptively edited to make it look like the individuals in the video were coordinating a coup. They say they were actually discussing what to do in a nonviolent protest if Joe Biden wins and there is "an attempt to ignore a democratic election."

The video was posted by "Millennial Millie," whose real name is Millicent Weaver. Weaver served as a correspondent for InfoWars.com, the website of conservative talk show host Alex Jones, who regularly shares unfounded conspiracy theories.  

"Regardless of who wins, the left plans to take over," Weaver says in the video. "Our undercover inside the Sunrise Movement was able to obtain exclusive video footage inside Zoom chats where Shutdown DC, BLM and other leftist organizations are coordinating a multi-level coup-action exercise utilizing insider help from Democrat Party members as well as federal employees and intelligence contractors."

Some of the people who appear in the video are, in fact, government employees from the Labor and Energy departments.

But participants say the video takes their discussion out of context.

Members of the the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led, anti-Trump initiative focused on climate change, said that "right-wing extremist organizations" are spreading false information about the organization, including heavily edited videos and two anonymous websites." 

Sunrise previously told fact-checking organization Lead Stories that someone pretended to be interested in its initiative and recorded some of its Zoom meetings. The YouTube video was then re-ordered and pieced together into clips to make it appear like the participants were planning civil unrest if Trump won re-election.

The organization says it encourages voter and civic participation and focuses on "ensuring a fair election and exerting public pressure on anyone that attempts to interfere in a democratic process."

The video appears to combine multiple meetings and highlights various parts of the discussions. 

We’ve fact-checked claims about coups before. Coups are the sudden and illegal removal of the executive authority (such as the president) of an independent government. Coups are sometimes (but not always) violent. Peaceful protests and civil disobedience are not typical of coups. 

Some of the discussions in the video specifically reference coups, but the language seems intended for dramatic emphasis and to express their disdain for Trump. There are no specific plans made in the video to commit acts of violence or talk of installing a new president. 

Near the beginning of the video, one woman says, "I think making sure that we are naming what is happening as a coup in communications with co-workers would be really important."

Patrick Young, an organizer for Shut Down D.C., which describes itself as a space "where individuals and groups can come together to organize direct action," talks about how to respond to different contested election scenarios. 

On his Twitter page, Young has openly shared the organization’s plan for Election Day and beyond, which discusses actions to take to stop a potential "coup" In this case, the coup they seem to largely be referring to is Trump seizing an unearned victory, not activists commiting a coup themselves.

Fox News also wrote a story about the recorded meetings, saying that several leaked documents and Zoom call recordings described "a loose but coordinated network of activists seeking to mobilize around the country, especially if Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden loses or if President Trump contests the election results."

The news organization also acknowledged that it couldn’t independently confirm the legitimacy of the recordings and documents with local and federal law enforcement, but noted that the FBI said its standard practice is to neither confirm nor deny an investigation. 

Weaver claims that the video’s findings have been vetted by "high-level analysts" and "seasoned journalists," without naming or citing them. 

Investigative researchers from First Draft, a nonprofit that fights online misinformation, found that different parts of the video show cuts and edits that aren’t part of a continuous recording. Many of those cuts are obvious, and abruptly switch from one speaker to another.

A chat box on the side displays time stamps, and shows the YouTube video jumping back and forth. 

For example, at the beginning, the time stamp shows 7:22 p.m. The next part about a potential coup jumps back to 6:17 p.m., while the following discussion about the police station and media map jumps forward to 8:08 p.m.

The meetings appear to be legitimate, but Weaver’s video is selectively edited and without being able to view the original footage, we are unable to get the complete context of these discussions. Many of the individuals featured are involved in activist organizations that regularly organize protests and various demonstrations, but we couldn’t find evidence that they are planning a coup to take over whole cities, rather planning on how to respond to a coup.