• An armed man attempted to force his way into an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Thursday, the FBI said.
• Far-right corners of the internet almost immediately called the incident staged and a "false flag."
• An extremism expert said many of the same forums have been calling for violence against the FBI.

Almost immediately after an armed man tried to force his way into an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio, and exchanged gunfire with police, the pro-Trump internet gave the incident a familiar conspiracy-theory label: "false flag."

Social media users on Twitter, Trump's platform Truth Social, and the pro-Trump forum TheDonald made baseless claims that the standoff was a hoax engineered to make Trump supporters look bad.

But while conspiracy theories are common among the far-right online, an extremism expert said users dismissed the incident as users on the forums have called for "civil war" and violence against FBI agents.

On Thursday, an armed man wearing body armor tried to "breach" an FBI facility in Cincinnati, according to the agency and emergency officials.

The man fled after failing to get in and ultimately wound up in a standoff with cops after "trading shots," Ohio State Patrol and county emergency officials said. No police or federal agents were injured in the incident.

The attempted breach came just one day after FBI director Christopher Wray denounced threats of violence against FBI officers gaining traction online following the agency's execution of a search...

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