State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey again stoked controversy Wednesday when he refused to back off from questioning whether the January 6th U.S. Capitol riot was real.
The exchange between Shirkey and Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist was captured on an open mic on the Senate rostrum.
Shirkey defended his sentiments in this audio.
“I don’t, frankly, take back any of the points I was trying to make. Some of the words I chose I would do different.”
He told Gilchrist, and: “I don’t back off very easily and sometimes I should.”
But Shirkey never actually retracted what he said.
Gilchrist in a statement blasted Shirkey’s comments and his refusal to reverse them. The same from Shirkey’s Senate Democratic counterpart. The Michigan Democratic Party issued a call for Shirkey to resign. The House speaker called the episode disappointing and a distraction.
Shirkey’s office said he had no further comment.