Trump Claims Assault On Elderly Buffalo Man Was Fake

The Daily Beast reports:

The video of cops in Buffalo pushing an elderly man so hard that his head smashed off the ground and blood started gushing from his right ear shocked people across the nation.

But President Trump isn’t convinced it’s real. Tweeting Tuesday morning, the president pushed a baseless conspiracy theory with no evidence that the scene was a “set-up.”

The two officers involved in the incident have been charged with second-degree assault after they were filmed pushing the 75-year old protester to the ground. Aaron Torgalski, 39, and Robert McCabe, 32, have pleaded not guilty.

Boing Boing reports:

Martin Gugino, 75, hit the pavement and bled from his ear when a Buffalo, NY police officer shoved him violently, without provocation.

Impeached president Donald Trump tweeted today that this violent incident may not have happened at all, or was staged by an “Antifa” provocateur, and justifies violence by the police against Americans.

He is citing a disinformation segment from the right-wing disinfo TV channel OANN, based on some bullshit written on a conspiracy theory blog.

Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2020

Wow, Donald Trump in effect stomps on a 75-year-old peace activist who was pushed by police, fell over backward to the ground, and started bleeding from the head.

Wow, what an amazingly un-compassionate president we have.

— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) June 9, 2020