State Senate Mike Shirkey apologizes for calling Capitol riots a hoax

State Senate Mike Shirkey apologizes for calling Capitol riots a hoax

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“These were not Trump people,” Shirkey said of the January 6 riots in a video taken at a restaurant.

“It was a joke from day one, it was all arranged in advance,” Shirkey said, claiming that rioters “got into separate buses, and it was all arranged by someone who finances everyone.”

“Why was there no more security? It was ridiculous, it was all staged,” he continued before pointing to conspiracy theories that the Republican leadership – including Senate minority Mitch McConnell – was involved in some way, and questioned how and why some victims occurred or were admitted.

Footage of the January 6 uprising clearly indicates that many participants wore the Donald Trump clothes and filmed their actions themselves, and law enforcement officials outlined the various communicative failures that contributed to the way the federal response unfolded. .

The recorded meeting with Shirkey took place on Feb. 3 at Spangler’s Family Restaurant in Jonesville, Michigan, said Jon Smith, Republican Party Secretary of Hillsdale County. He told CNN that he posted the video on his personal YouTube page. “I did not trust that he would be honest with me, and I wanted to expose his lies, and I might need to keep it to my own record,” Smith said of his reason for filming Shirkey.

The Metro Times in Detroit first reported on Shirkey’s comments.
Shirkey admitted in a statement Tuesday that the videotape was legal and apologized for his comments.

“I said a few things in a video conversation that did not fit the role I was privileged to serve,” he said. “I own it. I have many defects. At least two of them are passionately accompanied by a decrease in the restraint of the tongue.”

He continued: “I regret the words I have chosen, and I apologize for my insensitive remarks.”

The remarks come as the FBI and other law enforcement agencies from the Department of Justice continue to track down and prosecute dozens of people involved in the Capitol siege that killed five people, including a Capitol police officer. More than 200 have been charged since Tuesday afternoon.
Participants have so far come from different states, and some have been linked to far-right groups. Active military personnel and veterans are overrepresented among the first 150 people arrested and have released records for federal violations of violence and insurgency at the U.S. Capitol, according to a CNN analysis of Pentagon records and court proceedings.

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