U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican of Arizona and a supporter of white nationalism (his own family calls him a white supremacist) is among the most extreme members of Congress, but claims some more mainstream GOP lawmakers are making today about the deadly January 6 insurrection, just hours after expelling Rep. Liz Cheney from Republican leadership, are just as false and dangerous as Gosar’s.
On Wednesday during a House hearing on the insurrection that was incited by then-President Donald Trump, the Arizona white nationalist lawmaker defended the insurrectionists, calling them “peaceful protestors” who are being harassed by the Dept. of Justice.
“In a testy exchange with former acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen about Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter who was shot by Capitol Police while trying to enter the chamber,” Forbes reports, “Gosar described her as a ‘veteran’ who was ‘wrapped in a U.S. flag,’ asserting she was ‘executed’—the Capitol Police officer who killed Babbitt has been cleared of wrongdoing.”
But even Gosar’s claims were not the most divergent from basic facts.
Here’s South Carolina’s GOP Congressman Ralph Norman today, actually denying the insurrectionists were Trump supporters:
Many offered responses like this:
Also from today’s hearing, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), who falsely claims it’s a “lie” to say there was an insurrection:
Watch his stunning lies:
Here’s how some are responding: