GOP House Candidate Carl Paladino Denies He Was the One Who Posted Claim Suggesting Uvalde and Buffalo Shootings Were Staged
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Republican candidate for House Carl Paladino denies posting a bizarre rant that appeared on his Facebook page last week. It stated that mass shootings, such as the ones that recently occurred in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, were staged.
Paladino is running in the GOP primary in New York’s 23rd congressional district.
The post, which has since been deleted – apparently along with Paladino’s page – is dated June 1 and was purportedly written by “Jeff Briggs.” It was first flagged by Eric Hananoki of Media Matters.
Speaking on the shootings in New York and Texas, the post in question stated,
In almost every mass shooting including the most recent horrific Buffalo Tops Market & the Texas school shootings, there are strange occurrences that are never fully explained. How did an 18 yr old obtain $5000 in weapons and a $70k truck? Why were the officers told to stand down when their training just two months ago instructed them to rush in. The man who rushed in was a Border Patrol agent who defied the onsight [sic] officers’ instructions. The absence of crisis leaders reminds me of the broken cameras and napping guards when Epstein committed suicide.
The post also claimed, “The fact that the Texas shooter was receiving hypnosis training, Stories of multiple shooters in mass shootings that are never explained.”
Paladino told the Buffalo News he didn’t post the screed.
“That wasn’t me,” he said Tuesday night. “I told my secretary to remove it. It was just terrible and I would never write something like that.”
Paladino added, “I don’t even know how to post on Facebook.”
Hananoki told Mediaite the now-inaccessible page was updated regularly. “There were regular posts on it,” he said. “Pictures, memes, statements, etc.”
On Friday, Paladino received the endorsement of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who is the third-ranking Republican in the House.
Paladino has gotten himself in hot water before. In 2016 he expressed a desire to see then-President Barack Obama die of mad cow disease, and said then-First Lady Michelle Obama should “return to being a male and [be] let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”
He later apologized, stating, “I’m not a racist.”
Paladino’s primary will be held on June 28.
