After initially apologizing for saying the attack on the Capitol was “a scam”, Michigan state senator Mike Shirkey was caught in a hot microphone saying he supported these comments, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Why it matters: Prominent congressional Republicans, like Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), And other Trump allies, launched baselessly the idea that Capitol rioters were members of Antifa or others who posed as Trump supporters.
- January 6 footage showed that many protesters carried Trump flags, wore Trump-branded clothes and sang in support of Trump.
What they are saying: “Frankly, I don’t withdraw any of the points I was trying to make,” said Shirkey, while talking to other Michigan lawmakers at a state legislature.
- “That was not Trump’s people,” Shirkey said at a private meeting on February 3 at a restaurant in The Detroit Metro Times. “This has been a scam since day one. This was all pre-arranged. ”
- “Why was there no more security? It was ridiculous, it was all staged,”
Background: A day earlier, Shirkey issued an apology for calling the United States Capitol riots a scam.
- “I said a few things in a video conversation that are not appropriate for the position I am privileged to serve,” said Shirkey in a press release.
- “This is mine. I have many flaws. Being passionate along with an occasional lapse in language control are at least two of them. I regret the words I chose and apologize for my insensitive comments.”
Of importance: Separately, Shirkey was censored by the Hillsdale Republican Party, Metro Times reported, for condemning armed “peaceful protesters” who invaded the state capital of Michigan and for “total surrender” to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s pandemic measures.
Flashback: Trump summoned Shirkey and other Republican state lawmakers to Washington DC as part of the president’s attempt to reverse the election results.
- Shirley and the Michigan delegation of lawmakers released a document demonstration after the visit stating that “they were not yet aware of any information that would change the outcome of the Michigan election.”