White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Trump after he floated a conspiracy theory that the 75-year-old man who was pushed to the ground by law enforcement had ties to an oft-violent anti-fascist group, antifa.
She argued that the president “was raising questions” because “we can’t jump on one side without looking at all the facts,” during a Wednesday morning interview on Fox & Friends.
“This individual had some very questionable tweets, some profanity-laden tweets about police officers. Of course, no one condones any sort of violence. We need the appropriate amount of force used in any interaction, but there are a lot of questions in that case,” McEnany continued, before noting that all 57 members of the Buffalo Police Department’s Emergency Response Team resigned after the two officers who shoved Martin Gugino were suspended.
Trump claimed that Gugino could have ties to antifa on Tuesday morning.
“Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?” Trump tweeted to his 81.9 million followers.
The report that prompted Trump’s commentary came from One America News Network, a pro-Trump conservative television network that has an audience about 25 times smaller than CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC. OANN reporter Kristian Rouz claimed that Gugino, who was pushed during a George Floyd protest in Buffalo, New York, was employing “common antifa tactics” in his face-off with police.
The theory was originally posted to a conservative blog, Conservative Treehouse, according to NBC News. The post, from a user named “Sundance,” claimed Gugino was a “75-year-old professional agitator and Antifa provocateur” who “was attempting to capture the radio communications signature of Buffalo police officers” but did not provide evidence to support the allegations.
Rouz claimed in the segment that “newly released video” depicted Gugino “using a police tracker on his phone,” but it appears to be a slowed-down version of video taken by a bystander that was previously released and does not clearly show any tracking signs.
One source at OANN, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional repercussions, told the Washington Examiner that “several people in the newsroom spoke out about the story.”
“I’m seeing how much response this is all getting on Twitter right now, and it’s freaking awful,” another source said. “This feels awful. My coworkers and I do so much work, and one writer, one conspiracy story throws all of that out of the window, and it damages all of us who actually see a future beyond OAN. I’m worried the next news director I send my reel out to will only see ‘OAN’ on my resume and throw it in the trash. How is that fair when all I’ve done is credible reporting during my time here? A lot of my coworkers feel the same.” The source noted that a “large majority” of the newsroom felt the same.
The two officers who pushed Gugino, Aaron Torgalski, 39, and Robert McCabe, 32, were suspended without pay and have been charged with second-degree assault.
