Michigan GOP leader not sorry for calling Capitol riot a 'hoax' after all

Michigan state Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, a Republican, was caught on a hot mic on Wednesday standing by his past assertion that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. was a “hoax.”

Shirkey has been under fire for comments that were reported on Tuesday with which he alleged that the attack was a “hoax from Day One” that “was all prearranged” and “all staged.”

Later in the day, Shirkey released a statement saying, “I regret the words I chose, and I apologize for my insensitive comments.”

In comments on Wednesday morning to Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Shirkey changed his tune while he apparently believed he was having a private conversation.

“I frankly don’t take back any of the points I was trying to make,” said Shirkey. Shirkey acknowledged that the event occurred but reiterated his previous assertion that “it was planned weeks and months in advance by somebody else.”

Five people died in the attack on the Capitol.

From a Feb. 10 session of the Michigan Senate:

MIKE SHIRKEY: I frankly don’t take back any of the points I was trying to make.

 

[…]

 

On the topic of a hoax, that event wasn’t a hoax, it was very real. But the assignment of cause, it was planned weeks and months in advance by somebody else.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.