Republican National Committee spokesperson Liz Harrington took to Twitter on Tuesday to promote a theory that was also promoted by Donald Trump that 75-year-old Martin Gugino, a longtime activist in Buffalo, was an “ANTIFA provocateur” that staged his fall and hospitalization.
According to Philip Bump of the Washington Post, Trump’s tweet was based on an OANN report that is”… laughable, something not even worth parsing. It’s so sloppy and obviously untrue, and any actual media organization should be embarrassed to run it. Normally, we’d ignore it.”
Having said that, Bump added, “But OAN has created a loyal viewer in Trump, thanks to its sycophantic coverage of his administration. And that means that Trump saw the report on Gugino, accepted it as believable enough to warrant consideration — and then shared it with 80 million people on Twitter.”
Harrington has since deleted her tweet, but not before screenshots were grabbed.
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As Bump pointed out, “Soon after Trump’s tweet about Gugino, the Republican National Committee’s national spokesman Elizabeth Harrington apparently attempted to defend it by quoting from a news article in which Buffalo’s mayor talked about a protester being ‘a key major instigator’ of vandalism and looting in the city. Harrington has since deleted the tweet.”
You can the tweet below:
RNC National Spokeswoman has deleted this RT of the President suggesting a man shoved to the ground by police in Buffalo was “a set up,” linking to an article that claims the man was “trying to get punched in the face.” https://t.co/8drY3qv5fi pic.twitter.com/IRhReprwd2
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) June 9, 2020
The RNC is all in on smearing a 75-year-old who is still in critical condition after being shoved to the ground by police. pic.twitter.com/lreNFhIswh
— Max Steele (@maxasteele) June 9, 2020
It’s worse – the article claims the blood was fake and that he was carrying fake blood taped to his head! https://t.co/NCFI4WwTn1
— A.J. Delgado (@AJDelgado13) June 9, 2020
RELATED: Hospitalized 75-Year-Old Buffalo Protester Responds To Trump’s Twitter Attack With Three Words
