Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) gave a bizarre and confusing interview on CNN Thursday, but now it’s being cleared up by his chief of staff. Gimenez said during the interview: “I don’t think [Trump] incited the events that happened. I know for a fact that I saw people in my hotel room that were saying they were gonna do something at 2 o’clock, and that happened at 9:00 o’clock in the morning.” That remark left a lot of us scratching our heads.
“Alex Ferro, chief of staff to the Florida GOP congressman, says he heard the comments as he and Gimenez were standing inside the lobby of the Hyatt Regency near Capitol Hill,” Jim Acosta reports. Gimenez was staying at the hotel.
Ferro said the man, who was dressed in tactical gear, made the remark about storming the FBI “with passion in his voice.”
“It didn’t sit well with me,” Ferro added.”I could have sworn I heard ‘we’re gonna storm the FBI building.'”
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“At approximately 10 a.m. ET on the morning of January 6, Ferro says he alerted both threat assessment investigators with the Capitol Police as well as the FBI about the incident prior to the siege,” the report continues.
Ferro explained that the authorities wanted to know about the scene inside the Hyatt Regency lobby and whether the man in tactical gear could be identified. In response, Ferro said the hotel lobby was filled with Trump supporters.
Oh, that could explain why Republicans are against a Jan. 6 commission to get to the bottom of what happened on that deadly day.
Gimenez tweeted out the CNN report.
I misspoke and meant to say “hotel lobby” in my interview with @CNN on Wednesday. Authorities were immediately notified.
I appreciate @Acosta for doing actual reporting by reaching out to my office.https://t.co/RcY2RSbYee
— Congressman Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) May 21, 2021
Here’s a clip of Gimenez’s interview:
Rep. Carlos Gimenez about January 6: “I don’t think [Trump] incited the events that happened. I know for a fact that I saw people in my hotel room that were saying they were gonna do something at 2 o’clock, & that happened at 9 o’clock in the morning”
Who was in his hotel room? pic.twitter.com/7fW7XCCVal
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 20, 2021
So, he’s saying that Trump didn’t incite the insurrection, however, his chief of staff overheard a man in tactical gear in a room full of Trump supporters talking about an attack on the FBI building. Interestingly, Gimenez voted just later that day to overturn the election results in favor of the guy that incited the mob.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
