Immediately after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, allies of former President Donald Trump began crafting a narrative suggesting the violent attacks were coordinated by Trump’s enemies instead of his supporters.
Michigan’s top elected Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, was recorded Wednesday saying he stood by his assertion that the riots were a “hoax” and “prearranged.” It was the second time Shirkey was caught on video speculating about what has since been described as domestic terror incident; leaked video showed Shirkey posed the theory to leaders of the Hillsdale Republican Party.
“That wasn’t Trump people,” Shirkey said. “That’s been a hoax from day one. That was all prearranged ... Hell, Mitch McConnell was part of it. I think they wanted to have a mess.”
Related: Conservative Christian, prominent businessman, polarizing politician. Who is Mike Shirkey?
Shirkey said some of the rioters were Trump supporters who “probably got caught up in the emotion of it,” but speculated outside agitators led the pro-Trump mob on. Shirkey said blamed his own passion in a statement apologizing for “insensitive comments” after facing bipartisan criticism and calls to resign.
Shirkey’s assertions were contradicted by the evidence presented by House impeachment prosecutors seeking to prove Trump incited an insurrection. The Senate Majority Leader hasn’t pointed to any evidence to back up his claims.
Trump himself acknowledged people involved in the protest were his supporters, telling the mob in a video that “we love you.” House impeachment managers argued Trump provoked the riot months ahead of the Jan. 6 rally by repeating claims that the election was rigged, supporters had to “stop the steal” and “fight like hell” for him.
Impeachment managers opened the trial on Feb. 10 by making the case that Trump created a powder keg by claiming the election was stolen while encouraging his supporters to take aggressive action.
Trump personally promoted the “March to Save America,” urging supporters to travel to Washington, D.C and oppose a procedural vote of Congress to certify the election result. The protest was organized by Women for America First, which held smaller rallies in Michigan and other states to promote Jan. 6 rally.
The president framed the deadly riots as inevitable in a statement on Twitter published after he told the mob to go home.
“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long,” Trump said. “Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
Videos presented by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, featured a man yelling at Capitol Police officers that “We are listening to Trump, your boss.” Other videos showed members of the crowd
Federal court documents show far-right groups that support Trump played a role in fostering the violent riots on Jan. 6. More than 200 people have been arrested, including members of the pro-Trump groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
Federal charging documents show Proud Boys organizers encouraged its members to attend the demonstration and wear all black, possibly to disguise themselves as antifascists.
Ethan Nordean, self-described “Sergeant of Arms” of the Seattle Chapter of the Proud Boys, allegedly provoked others to unlawfully enter the U.S. Capitol, according to a federal criminal complaint. Social media posts uncovered by the FBI allege he and other members of the Proud Boys planned to organize a group that would attempt to overwhelm police and enter the Capitol, according to federal documents.
An affidavit filed in the arrest of Joseph Biggs, a Proud Boys organizer from Florida, alleges several members of the Proud Boys were observed wearing earpieces, presumably to coordinate with each other.
Five people who federal prosecutors say are linked to the Proud Boys group face charges for allegedly conspiring to prevent law enforcement from controlling the crowd as it sieged the Capitol. They allegedly obstructed metal barriers deployed by police and encouraged the crowd to “take” the Capitol, according to a criminal complaint.
One of the members allegedly bragged in Snapchat posts that she had successfully led the crowd.
Two other Proud Boys who were indicted together are accused of working to interfere with police officers protecting the Capitol, according to federal court documents.
Members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group that attempts to recruit former or active duty law enforcement and members of the military, also had a role in organizing the attack, according to federal documents.
Three members of the Oath Keepers were charged together in a conspiracy to stop the Electoral College certification. They allegedly planned an operation for Jan. 6, used social media and text messaging apps to recruit “as large a following as possible to go to Washington, D.C.”
A federal indictment alleges the Oath Keepers members, including two people who were involved with Ohio militia groups, held a training class in January and organized various assignments to fulfill their goal of executing a citizen’s arrest on members of Congress.
Trump’s lawyers suggested the violence was caused by “extremists of various different stripes and political persuasions,” specifically naming antifa. The FBI has previously said there is no evidence that supporters of the antifascist movement organized the riot.
Examples of left-wing activists arrested for participating in the riot include John Sullivan, a Utah man who founded a group focused on racial justice reform. Federal charging documents show Sullivan claimed he was only there to record the riot, but could be heard on his recording celebrating being inside the Capitol.
Shirkey was recorded pushing back against election fraud claims during his meeting with the Hillsdale Republicans.
Shirkey also discussed his meeting with Trump after was summoned to the White House after the election. Shirkey said he was put on a conference call with Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, who Shirkey described as “unorganized.”
“I had to interrupt him three times. I (said) ‘Rudy, Rudy,’ loudly because he would keep talking. Finally, he stopped and I said ‘when are you going to file a suit in Michigan?’ He never answered the question. Three times. He never did file a suit in Michigan. So, you know, I question the veracity. There’s all kinds of claims and all kinds of circumstances and all kinds of things that’s looked really strange, but I question the veracity of their data and their evidence.”
Hillsdale Republicans asked what Shirkey thought of affidavits alleging voter fraud at the TCF Center in Detroit. Shirkey said “people were going there to fight,” creating a powder keg of tensions that erupted as poll challengers thought they found evidence of fraud.
“Quite a few observations, that’s what an affidavit is,” Shirkey said. “I looked into most of them. They were either misunderstandings of what they actually saw ... the biggest problem is everybody that was working there was undertrained. They were all asking questions and it escalated.”
Shirkey also explained to the Hillsdale Republicans that Trump appeared to hold an early lead because absentee votes couldn’t be counted until polls closed on Election Day. He said he regretted his decision to block legislation that would have allowed clerks to count absentee ballots earlier.
“The reality is that we weren’t ready for the onslaught of early and mail-in votes and there were just big bonuses of absentee ballots that couldn’t be processed in time because I wouldn’t allow them to process them early,” Shirkey said. “That ended up being all those big interjections on election night and into the next day. But Trump lost Michigan in Kent County and Oakland County. He actually got more votes on a percentage basis in Wayne County than he did in 2016.”
Shirkey explained that Trump lost Kent County 54,000 votes while all other Republican candidates won their races.
“That’s proof that people just split their vote,” Shirkey said. “They weren’t voting for Biden. They were voting against Trump.”
Shirkey said he received 4,000 text messages when Trump publicly listed his phone number on Facebook in a bid to pressure Shirkey into appointing an alternate slate of Republican electors.
“There was definitely election fraud but not enough to change the election,” Shirkey said.
READ MORE ON MLIVE:
Audit confirms Michigan’s election results were accurate, state says
Michigan man arrested for breaking into Capitol released on bond
Progressive women lawmakers call on Mike Shirkey to step down from Senate leadership role
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