Trump pushes conspiracy theory about Buffalo protester
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump ignited fresh controversy over his hard-line “law and order” push Tuesday by peddling yet another unfounded conspiracy theory, this time trying to raise suspicions about a 75-year-old protester who was hospitalized after being shoved by police and falling.
Trump tweeted without evidence that the confrontation in Buffalo, New York, may have been a “set up” as he once again sided with police officers over protesters and demonstrated anew his willingness to spread and amplify bogus charges cooked up by far-right outlets.
The move comes as Trump, who has labeled himself “your president of law and order,” has taken a tough line against the protesters who have been demonstrating across the nation following the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck.
Aides have been urging Trump to strike a more unifying tone, worried that his divisive response to the protests is animating parts of the Democratic base and benefiting his rival, Democrat Joe Biden, months before November’s election.
Two
Buffalo police officers have been charged with second-degree assault
after video captured protester Martin Gugino falling to the ground after
being pushed by police. He was seen bleeding from his head as officers
walk away. The officers, who could face prison sentences of up to seven
years if convicted, have pleaded not guilty.
The video is one of
several that have emerged in recent weeks showing police using seemingly
excessive force against protesters as Trump has demanded that governors
and mayors across the nation take control of their streets using all
means necessary. He has repeatedly urged local leaders to call up the
national guard and threatened to deploy active-duty military to American
cities if he deems local efforts insufficient.
“Buffalo protester
shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur,” Trump wrote in his
tweet. “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?”
There is no evidence to suggest that anything of the sort
took place. Trump was referencing a report on One America News Network,
a far-right news channel that he often praises.
Trump’s tweet was criticized by both Republicans and Democrats.
“It’s
a serious accusation, which should only be made with facts and
evidence. And I haven’t seen any yet,” said Sen. John Thune of South
Dakota, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate. Asked by reporters if the
president should not be making it, Thune said: “Well, I think that’s a
given.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who last week said she’s
“struggling with” whether to support Trump in November, reacted to the
tweet in the Capitol after a reporter handed her a printout.
“Oh lord. Ugh,” she said. “Again, why would you fan the flames? That’s all I’m going to say.”
New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on Trump to apologize for a “wholly unacceptable” tweet.
“How
reckless, how irresponsible, how mean, how crude. I mean if there was
ever a reprehensible, dumb comment, and from the president of the United
States,” Cuomo said at his daily press conference.
“At this
moment of anguish and anger, what does he do? Pour gasoline on the
fire,” he added. “Show some decency. Show some humanity. Show some
fairness. You’re the president of the Untied States.”
As for the
substance of the tweet, the president’s claim is “so technically
incomprehensible, I’m not even sure where to start,” said Matt Blaze, a
professor of computer science and law at Georgetown University.
It
is possible to disrupt police radio —an illegal action often called
“jamming”— but hackers can only do that by attacking receiving stations,
not with handheld devices that target an individual police officer’s
radio, Blaze said.
“Any radio system is subject to interference, but it doesn’t work by pointing some sort of ray gun and interfering,” Blaze said.
As
he has tried to malign protesters as “radical-left, bad people”
engaging in domestic terrorism, Trump has frequently invoked the label
“antifa,” an umbrella term for leftist militants bound more by belief
than organizational structure. Trump has blamed antifa for the violence
that has erupted during some of the protests. But federal law
enforcement officials have offered little evidence
that antifa-aligned protesters are behind the efforts seen in hundreds
of cities and towns in all 50 states since Floyd’s death.
Trump’s
campaign has run ads calling on Facebook users to applaud the president
for saying he would declare antifa a terrorist organization.
Gugino,
who is out of the intensive care unit but remains hospitalized, has
been described by friends as a retiree and veteran peace activist driven
by his faith and a desire for social justice. He is involved with the
Western New York Peace Center and Latin American Solidarity Committee,
the center’s executive director has said.
Gugino’s attorney, Kelly Zarcone, told The Associated Press that Trump’s accusations “are utterly baseless and ridiculous.”
Gugino, she said, “has always been a peaceful protester because he cares about today’s society.”
“No
one from law enforcement has even suggested anything otherwise, so we
are at a loss to understand why the president of the United States would
make such dark, dangerous, and untrue accusations about him,” she said.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn declined to comment Tuesday on the president’s tweet and said he would have no further comment on the Gugino case because it remains under investigation.
Thompson reported from Buffalo. Associated Press writer Amanda Seitz in Chicago contributed to this report.