Senate Majority Leader Shirkey under fire for video claiming Jan. 6 Capitol assault a ‘hoax’

(The Center Square) – On Wednesday, one day after video surfaced of Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, claiming the assault of the U.S. Capitol was a hoax, a hot mic caught him saying, “I frankly don’t take back any of the points I was trying to make. Some of the words I chose I do regret.”

In a Feb. 3 Youtube video meeting with the Hillsdale County Republican Party, Shirkey claimed the Jan. 6 event in Washington in which five people died and more than a 100 people were arrested “was all staged.”

“That wasn’t Trump people,” Shirkey said of the Jan. 6 event, adding, “That’s been a hoax since day one, and it was all prearranged.”

“Why wasn’t there more security? It was ridiculous; it was all staged,” Shirkey continued, adding that then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, was “part of it.”

The Detroit Metro Times first reported the video.

Hillsdale County Republican Party Secretary Jon Smith, who took the video at Spangler’s Family Restaurant in Jonesville, told The Center Square he filmed the meeting to keep Shirkey honest in what he tells constituents versus what he says in Lansing.

“The camera keeps everyone honest,” Smith said.

“I feel there’s a sad and sombering disconnect between government and citizen,” Smith said.

Smith said Shirkey navigated outside of their party platform principles.

“The fact of the matter is, vote with principle, not with politics,” Smith said.

Shirkey said he doesn’t care about the Feb. 4 censure against him — a formal statement of disapproval.

“To him, it’s just a piece of paper,” Smith said. “For us, it’s reprimanding of a politician.”

Hillsdale Republicans voted 14-5 to censure Shirkey for what they believed was departing from conservative values, including supporting the National Popular Vote and not standing up enough to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order powers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another reason for censure was Shirkey’s support of a ban on the open carry of firearms at the state Capitol.

In a Tuesday statement, Shirkey apologized, but it’s not clear specifically which of his comments warranted the apology.

“I said some things in a videoed conversation that are not fitting for the role I am privileged to serve. I own that,” he said. “I have many flaws. Being passionate coupled with an occasional lapse in restraint of tongue are at least two of them. I regret the words I chose, and I apologize for my insensitive comments.”

Shirkey is term-limited out of Senate re-election in 2022.

Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II condemned Shirkey’s statements, which included the Senator saying he considered inviting Whitmer to a fistfight on the Capitol lawn.

“It is clear that his so-called apology was not heartfelt, nor did it come from a place of humility and understanding. Rather, it was an empty gesture made for political expediency, and one that the people of Michigan can see right through.”

Gilchrist called for Republicans to denounce this rhetoric.

“As elected officials, what we do and what we say matters, and that is true now more than ever as Michiganders look to us for leadership in steering the state through this ongoing pandemic and economic recovery,” Gilchrist said in a statement.

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