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Michigan’s top Republican-elect Mike Shirkey, the state Senate majority leader, said on Wednesday he supported previous remarks in which he called the attack on the U.S. Capitol a “hoax” and said that he could challenge Governor Gretchen Whitmer to a fight.
Mr. Shirkey was overheard speaking on an open mic in the Michigan Capitol on Wednesday in what he apparently believed to be a private conversation. “Frankly, I am not making any of the points I was trying to make,” he said, referring to recent comments on the Capitol siege, which is at the center of former President Donald’s impeachment trial. J. Trump in the Senate.
At a restaurant last week, Mr. Shirkey told a group of Republican officials, “It wasn’t Trump’s people,” referring to the crowd that stormed the Capitol on January 6. “It’s been a hoax from day one,” he added. . “Everything was staged.”
A video of the lunch was uploaded to YouTube. Mr Shirkey also made offensive remarks that day about Ms Whitmer, a Democrat, saying he and his fellow Republican lawmakers had “spanked her hard” in the Legislature. “I considered inviting him to a fight on the lawn of the Capitol,” he added.
Ms Whitmer has repeatedly been the target of sexist slurs by Mr Trump and baseless accusations of fraud in the Michigan election. Six men with extremist ties have been charged in a conspiracy to kidnap him.
Mr. Shirkey, who was pressured by Mr. Trump to overturn the Michigan election results after President Biden won the state, crossed a line between showing loyalty to staunch Trump supporters and not carry the torch to democracy. His comments over lunch were directed to Hillsdale County Republican Party officials a day before he blamed him for failing to defend Ms Whitmer sufficiently.
He apologized when the recording went public.
But on Wednesday, Mr. Shirkey’s hot comments on the mic cast doubt on his apology. He was recorded speaking to Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, a Democrat, once again questioning who sparked the January 6 riot. Of the more than 175 rioters arrested, many showed strong support for Mr. Trump on social media, and at least 21 had ties to far-right militant groups.
“The attribution of the cause, it was planned months, weeks and months in advance by someone who … unfortunately is blamed for it,” Mr. Shirkey said, according to The Detroit Free Press. He added that the FBI had not yet determined “who was behind this”.
“Some people from Trump got caught up in the crowd and did things they shouldn’t have done,” he said.
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