Video obtained by CNN shows Kyle Fitzsimons referring to immigrants as “substitutes”, echoing the white nationalist rhetoric that immigrants in America are coming to exterminate whites.
Since the start of his nearly three and a half minute speech on May 10, 2017, Fitzsimons’ prejudice and xenophobia were on full display.
“I’m from New York; from Rhode Island,” he said, holding up two license plates. “I grew up in those states and I have to say that I think they are multicultural hell holes.”
CNN obtained the video from an eyewitness to the speech, who asked not to be identified for security reasons. Mainer News was the first to report Fitzsimons’ comments.
Legislature records, public records and four eyewitnesses all confirm to CNN that Fitzsimons is the man seen in the video making the prejudiced comments. His comments were made during the public hearing on a bill that would have broadly expanded funding for teaching English to immigrants, among other things aimed at helping them.
During the January 6 riot and uprising in Washington, DC, federal prosecutors said Fitzsimons assaulted police officers, among other crimes.
CNN was unable to contact Fitzsimons directly, but in response to Fitzsimons’ video and comments, its public defender in the Capitol disturbance case told CNN, “no comment.”
In the 2017 speech, Fitzsimons’ arguments mirrored some of the basic tenets of the white nationalist “big substitution” theory. The belief is an illusion often held by White nationalists and supremacists, and falsely asserts that there is an active effort to bring in immigrants from other countries to eliminate Whites.
“I will point this out to all of you because you are holding elected positions during the opioid crisis that is affecting Maine and killing us,” said Fitzsimons. “Killing the New England Yankee culture; you are doing nothing to do anything about it.”
He then said that lawmakers were “bringing in the new third world” and that they were “bringing in substitutes”.
“I was really scared for my colleagues”
Fitzsimons then turned, gesturing to someone in the audience who had spoken in favor of the project. John Kosinski, who was at the hearing that day, told CNN that he was a black man.
“This man behind me, I believe he made the news yesterday,” said Fitzsimons. “You cleaned up really well.”
He said the man was in front of a poster the day before that said, “Help the immigrant population navigate the juvenile criminal justice system.”
“What’s wrong with your culture that you need to know so much about teaching your kids to stay out of prison,” said Fitzsimons to the man.
Despite a lawmaker’s interjection, Fitzsimons continued his white nationalist rhetoric, saying, “Keep Maine, Maine.
“The state’s motto is ‘I lead’, ‘Dirigo’,” he said, alluding to the state flag. “There are two White workers in it; don’t put them at the end of the line.”
Just before the video ends, Fitzsimons steps away from the podium and leaves the frame.
“I remember the sighs,” former legislator Roger Katz told CNN. Katz was the sponsor of the project that Fitzsimons was talking about.
He described Fitzsimons’ remarks as “the most racist comment I heard in the eight years I spent [in the legislature]. ”
“I was really scared for my colleagues,” recalled state senator Mattie Daughtry, who was listening to the audience while she was at the dentist.
Daughtry and state senator Rebecca Millett confirmed to CNN that, after the comments, a member of the Maine Capitol Police stayed in the committee room during the hearings for some time afterwards.
“I will tell you sitting in that committee room … I felt exposed,” Millett told CNN. “Not terribly sure and unsure of what this gentleman would do, given his behavior.”
“I hope this guy doesn’t shoot me”
The 2017 speech was not the last time that Fitzsimons had a tense dispute with a member of the Maine legislature, according to State Representative Michele Meyer.
“In the spring of 2019, Kyle Fitzsimons, whom I knew only as an employee of a local Kittery company where I shop frequently, followed me to a parking lot, parked his truck behind my car and positioned himself so close to my car I I couldn’t have opened the door, “she told CNN in a statement. “It happened quickly.”
During the confrontation, Meyer said in the statement, “he spoke of the 2nd Amendment, made derogatory comments about the governor and speculated that America was going to a civil war for the rights of arms.”
In an interview with CNN, Meyer said the entire ordeal with Fitzsimons – he was not his constituent – lasted about two minutes. She, at the time, said she had co-sponsored a series of bills related to gun security.
She remembers that she just listened to him, something she often did as a nurse with patients.
“I listened because I didn’t want to make the situation any worse,” she said. “I had no desire to argue with him or defend my position, [because] it didn’t seem like that would be the wise approach on my part. ”
After letting him speak, Meyer says she asked him to move his vehicle so she could get out, which he did.
“When that kind of thing happens, a lot of things go through your head very quickly,” said Meyer. “I thought very quickly – among the fleeting thoughts I had – I was hoping that this guy wouldn’t shoot me in the face.”