"Many of those who stormed the Capitol openly espoused QAnon beliefs and appear to have become convinced that Trump’s drive to overturn his loss in the 2020 election would culminate in some kind of military-led intervention, ousting evil Democrats and ushering in a righteous new era. Trump fueled the Capitol attack not only with his inflammatory words but through months of public flirtation with the bizarre online obsession — particularly when it seemed to bolster his re-election bid or advance his post-election campaign to challenge the election results. Asked about the violence at the Capitol, as well as the role that Trump played in stoking it through his speech that day and the conspiracy talk he fomented in the weeks after the election, Cohen said: “The administration should have crushed this QAnon stuff as soon as it materialized.”