A video obtained by CNN points to Kyle Fitzsimons referring to immigrants as ‘substitutes’, reflecting the white nationalist rhetoric that immigrants come to America to exterminate whites.
From the start of his nearly three-and-a-half-minute speech on May 10, 2017, Fitzsimons’ bragging and xenophobia were in full swing.
‘I’m from New York; I’m from Rhode Island, ‘he says, holding up two license plates. “I did grow up in those states and I have to tell you that I think these are multicultural sanctuaries.”
CNN obtained the video from an eyewitness to the speech, who asked not to be named for security reasons. Mainer News first reported Fitzsimons’ remarks.
Legislative records, public records and four eyewitnesses all confirm to CNN that Fitzsimons is the man seen in the video and makes the big comments. His comments come during the public hearing on a proposed bill that would greatly increase the funding of immigrants in English, among other things to help them.
During the riots and uprising on January 6 in Washington, DC, federal prosecutors say Fitzsimons, among other things, assaulted police officers.
CNN could not reach Fitzsimons directly, but in response to the video and Fitzsimons’ remarks, his public defender told CNN during the riots in the Capitol: “no comment.”
In the 2017 speech, Fitzsimons’ arguments reflect some of the core principles of the white nationalist ‘major replacement’ theory. The belief is a fallacy often held by white nationalists and supremacists, and it falsely claims that there is a real attempt to bring in immigrants from other countries to wipe out white people.
“I’m going to make it clear to you all because you are sitting elected officials during the opioid crisis affecting Maine and killing us,” Fitzsimons said. ‘To Kill Yankee New England’s Cultural Death; you do nothing to do anything about it. ‘
He then said that the legislators ‘bring in the new third world’ and that they ‘bring in the substitutes’.
“I was very scared of my colleagues”
Fitzsimons turned around and pointed to someone in the audience who had spoken in favor of the bill. John Kosinski, who was in the audience that day, told CNN it was a black man.
“This gentleman behind me, I believe he was on the news yesterday,” Fitzsimons said. “You cleaned very nicely.”
He claims that the man stood in front of a poster the previous day that read: “help the immigrant population through the juvenile criminal justice system.”
“What’s wrong with your culture that you need to know so much about how to teach your children to stay out of jail,” Fitzsimons told the man.
Despite being mediated by a legislature, Fitzsimons continued his white nationalist rhetoric, saying, ‘Love Maine, Maine.
“The state motto is: ‘I lead’, ‘Dirigo’,” he said, referring to the state flag. “There are two white workers on board; they do not sit at the end of the line.”
Shortly before the video ends, Fitzsimons steps away from the podium and beyond the frame.
“I remember the crap,” former lawmaker Roger Katz told CNN. Katz was the sponsor of the bill against which Fitzsimons spoke.
He described Fitzsimons ‘remarks as’ the most racist remark I’ve ever heard in the eight years I spent [in the legislature]. ”
“I was very scared of my colleagues,” recalls Sen. Mattie Daughtry, who listened to the trial while at the dentist.
Daughtry and state senator Rebecca Millett both confirmed to CNN that a member of the Maine Capitol police stood in the committee room for some time after the comments.
“I’m going to tell you that you’re sitting in the committee room … I felt exposed,” Millett told CNN. “Not terribly safe, and unsure what this gentleman is going to do given his attitude.”
“I hope this man does not shoot me in the face”
The 2017 speech was not the last time Fitzsimons had a tense run-up with a member of the Maine legislature, according to state Representative Michele Meyer.
‘In the spring of 2019, Kyle Fitzsimons, whom I only knew in his capacity as an employee of a local Kittery business where I regularly shop, followed me to a parking lot, parked his truck behind my car and himself so close to “I could not have opened the door for my car,” she told CNN in a statement. “It happened fast.”
During the confrontation, Meyer said in the statement, “he spoke of the 2nd Amendment, made derogatory remarks about the Governor and speculated that America was heading for a civil war over gun rights.”
In an interview with CNN, Meyer said the whole ordeal with Fitzsimons – he was not her voter – lasted about two minutes. She said at the time that she had sponsored a number of gun safety bills.
She remembers just listening to him, something she regularly did as a nurse with patients.
“I listened because I did not want to aggravate the situation at all,” she said. ‘I had no desire to argue with him or defend my position, [because] it did not seem to be the wise approach on my part. ‘
After letting him talk, Meyer says she asked him to move his vehicle so she could leave, which he did.
“When things like that happen, a lot of things go through your head quickly,” Meyer said. “I thought quickly – among the fleeting thoughts I had – I was hoping this man would not shoot me in the face.”