After a video of Michigan Senator Majority Leader Mike Shirkey with the Hillsdale County Republican Party was posted on YouTube, the senator stands by his comments, but perhaps not his exact choice of words.
In a meeting at a diner on Feb 3, Shirkey told the GOP group that the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was a hoax and that former President Donald Trump was not responsible for it.
The hour-long video was posted on Feb. 4.
On Tuesday, Shirkey addressed the comments on “AM Jackson with Greg O’Connor” on WKHM.
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“The attack was very real,” Shirkey said. “President Trump could and should have acted sooner and more forcibly even to call off the attack, but he did not cause the attack. That’s the narrative I was referring to when I said ‘hoax.’”
Shirkey said he stands by his comments that there was no voter fraud in the 2020 election but he claimed that “too many people dead people voted.”
“Now we have some things we need to address because it was a little too loose,” he said. “There was too much confusion at absentee counting boards.”
He also mentioned of his use of the the word “spank.” He bragged to the Hillsdale County GOP members that he and his caucus had “spanked” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the budget and her appointee approval process. Some have claimed the use of the word is misogynistic.
“I’ve had first-hand experience over this past week with regular spanking by the media,” Shirkey said.