[ad_1]
The Texas Republican rushing to help former President Donald Trump keep his name on the ballot is being undermined by his own comments.
An old Facebook post from Representative Troy Nehls is recirculating amid news that the congressman will appear as a witness for Trump’s team in the Colorado case challenging Trump’s 2024 candidacy.
Nehls announced Tuesday that he will be serving as a witness for Trump’s defense in the 14th Amendment case that argues the former president should be barred from running for office under the Constitution’s disqualification clause. Calling the civil trial a “sham” and “clear election interference,” Nehls said, “I was at the doors on January 6, face to face with protestors, and I know firsthand there was NO INSURRECTION.”
“I look forward to providing my eyewitness account of that,” Nehls wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
But social media posts from the day of the Capitol riot paint a different picture of the Republican’s feelings that day. A Facebook post that remains up at the time of publication shows Nehls condemning the pro-Trump protest in “the strongest terms” and declaring “violence is NEVER the answer.”
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“What I’m witnessing inside the US Capitol is disgusting. Violent extremists stormed the Capitol and were breaching doors and breaking glass in the entrance to the House floor. Shots were fired,” Nehls wrote on January 6, 2021. “It came to the point Capitol Police had weapons drawn and we had to barricade the doors shut. I stood at the door shoulder to shoulder with Capitol Police attempting to calm the protestors talking to them through the glass.”
Newsweek reached out to Nehl’s office via email for comment.
Nehls, a staunch Trump ally, was among the 147 House Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The trial that Nehls is appearing before seeks to ban Trump from appearing on Colorado’s primary ballot, arguing that his actions on and before January 6, 2021, disqualify him from running for public office. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment prohibits U.S. officials who have taken an oath to the Constitution from running for office if they’ve “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.”
The Texas Republican’s Tuesday announcement was met with criticism by observers who replied to his tweet with screenshots of his old posts, flooding Nehls with questions like, “This you?” and “Memory issues Rep Nehls?”
“This is probably the most extreme example of gaslighting I’ve ever seenNehls had a broken piece of wood as a weapon to protect himself and others,” one X user said. “They may put this example in the dictionary under gaslight.”
“Lying under oath is a criminal offense. We all know what you said and did on January 6th 2021,” another person wrote. “Better be prepared to be cross examined!! With facts and other Reps who know the truth.”
Former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who resigned after being injured during the Capitol riot, also wrote to Nehls, “When you were scared to death of losing your life on January 6, you sure were not saying the insurrection was a sham.”
Others, however, applauded Nehls for sticking by Trump, with some even asking him to testify on behalf of the former president’s supporters in their criminal cases.
“I am glad @SheriffTNehls is doing this for @realDonaldTrump,” attorney John Pierce, who has represented nearly two dozen January 6 defendants, wrote. “Now he and every other GOP Congressman and Senator should be lining up to testify on behalf of regular Americans who are January 6th defendants and facing years in prison rather than evading our subpoenas.”
The trial in Colorado began on Monday as Trump’s team continues to argue the lawsuit brought by a group of voters in the state is a “fringe” case.
“When it comes to decide as to who should lead our nation, it’s the people of the United States of America that gets to make those decisions, not six voters in Colorado,” Trump lawyer Scott Gessler said on the first day of the trial.
The legal challenges to Trump’s candidacy are not limited to Colorado. Trump’s team filed a lawsuit to shut down a similar case in Michigan on Tuesday, while a hearing in a Minnesota case has been set for Thursday.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
[ad_2]
Source link
