FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
February 19, 2021
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
Hillsdale GOP Official in Infamous Shirkey Video Organized Buses to D.C. Insurrection
Daren Wiseley, pictured next to Shirkey in now-infamous diner video, organized caravan to Jan. 6th insurrection
MICHIGAN — While Mike Shirkey has rightfully grabbed headlines for his dangerous comments that were caught on video about the January 6 insurrection being a “hoax,” the man seated next to Shirkey in the video is also tied to the events that transpired in Washington, D.C on January 6.
According to video posted by HTV 1, Hillsdale County Republican Party Chair Daren Wiseley was involved with organizing buses to Washington, D.C. for the Stop the Steal rally. In the video, with footage of maskless people piling onto buses, Wiseley told HTV1 on the eve of January 6 that the goal of the trip to D.C. was to stop the election from being certified.
Progress Michigan believes law enforcement should interview Wiseley about his role in what took place in Washington D.C. given his comments prior to the event.
“We got a bunch of patriots back here, pretty riled up as you can tell…What we’re trying to accomplish is having our Congress not certify this vote,” Wiseley said before going on to spread misinformation about election fraud in Michigan.
How Wiseley and other attendees planned on stopping the certification was not explained, but people across the country and world saw how it played out.
The video shows that the flood of dangerous misinformation around the election has soaked through the Michigan Republican Party.
“From the lies they told for months to the attendance they organized, it’s pretty clear that the Michigan Republican Party at all levels is complicit in the insurrection that took place in Washington, D.C. on January 6,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Shirkey is rightfully getting attention for his outlandish comments, but we also have to acknowledge the rot of extremism and misinformation that runs deep into the roots of the MIGOP. Shirkey will leave office one day, but many of the folks spreading these lies and stoking extremism are not going away anytime soon.”
###