Louie Gohmert Downplays Capitol Riot at QAnon Conference: ‘It Wasn’t Just Right-Wing Extremists’
Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) downplayed the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Memorial Day weekend while claiming that the insurrection wasn’t exclusively carried out by right-wing extremists.
Gohmert made his remarks at the “For God & Country Patriot Roundup,” the same QAnon event where former national security adviser Michael Flynn apparently endorsed a military coup in the United States, and “Kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell falsely claimed Donald Trump could “simply be reinstated” into the White House.
The Washington Post reports that when the congressman spoke before the conference, he complained about Democrats pushing for continued investigations into the Capitol riots, and he brushed off the insurrection by commenting on how America has survived worse catastrophes.
“Some of us think Pearl Harbor was the worst attack on democracy, some of us think 9/11 was the worst attack,” said Gohmert. “Some of us think that those things were worse attacks on democracy.”
A sitting member of Congress, Louie Gohmert, is currently speaking at a QAnon event in front of the event’s logo, which has the QAnon slogan right in it. pic.twitter.com/fcZhA0PsH5
— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) May 29, 2021
Ever since the Capitol riot, Gohmert has defended the pro-Trump mob by claiming it was not an “armed insurrection,” that they were actually “nonviolent, peaceful Americans,” and that “their only crime was supporting Donald Trump.” Gohmert expanded on those false claims during his speech by running with the unsubstantiated, popular right-wing claim that leftist agitators were somehow involved in the riot.
“It wasn’t just right-wing extremists,” Gohmert said.
