WASHINGTON – The video that America saw shows a tall, 75-year-old protester with a cell phone in hand approaching a line of Buffalo police officers – including one who shoves him with a baton and another who pushes him with his arm. The protester then stumbles backwards and falls to the ground. Blood gushes out of his right ear.
But it appears President Trump saw something different.
"Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. "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?"
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
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That Trump tweet – delivered without evidence and based on a One America News Network piece by a reporter with ties to a Russian propaganda outfit – quickly drew the attention of the nation. Critics across the political spectrum upbraided the president for circulating an unproven conspiracy theory tying Gugino to Antifa, a loosely organized anti-fascist group that conservatives increasingly blame for riots and looting.
"My Dad used to say there's no greater sin than the abuse of power," former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, tweeted. "Whether it's an officer bloodying a peaceful protester or a President defending him with a conspiracy theory he saw on TV. I'm a Catholic – just like Martin. Our faith says that we can't accept either."
Former Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, summed up his thoughts more succinctly.
"This was a 75 year-old-man shoved to the ground, left bleeding from a head wound," he tweeted. "Trafficking in conspiracy theories like these is beneath your office, Mr President."
The tweet
Trump's account differs from what others saw in the video that showed Buffalo Police Officers Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe shoving Gugino. Torgalski and McCabe have been suspended and charged with felony assault.
Gugino's lawyer, Kelly Zarcone, said in a statement that her client is out of the intensive care unit but in need of rest.
"Martin has always been a PEACEFUL protester because he cares about today's society," Zarcone said. "No one from law enforcement has suggested otherwise so we are at a loss to understand why the President of the United States would make such dark, dangerous and untrue accusations against him."
Trump based his tweet on news coverage of the Buffalo incident on the One America News Network, a far-right news outlet. That report said the incident involving Gugino "could be a result of a false flag provocation by far left group ANTIFA."
"Newly released videos appear to show Gugino using a police tracker on his phone, trying to scan police communications during the protest," the OANN report said. "The tactic known as skimming is an old trick used by ANTIFA to locate police officers and plan violent activities."
The reporter on the OANN piece was Kristian Rouz – who, according to the Daily Beast, is a Russian national who also works for the Russian propaganda outfit Sputnik.
OANN said it based its reporting on an account in the Conservative Treehouse blog post that, without evidence, labeled Gugino a "75-year-old professional agitator and ANTIFA provocateur."
The Conservative Treehouse blog, which has 168,600 Twitter followers, was founded in 2011. It does not disclose its ownership, but identifies itself as being run by a "Rag Tag Bunch of Conservative Misfits."
The conspiracy theory about Gugino has been circulating for days on social media, and Trump decided to spread it on the day of the funeral of George Floyd, the man whose death at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer has prompted worldwide protests against racist police practices.
Trump did it for a reason, said Paul M. Barrett, the deputy director of the New York University Center for Business and Human Rights.
"Once again it's an example of President Trump's conspiracy-mongering," said Barrett, who authored a report on how false information might affect this year's presidential election. "He's suggesting a false set of facts in order to accomplish an ideological goal of undercutting the protests that have been going on across the country for the last two weeks."
The reaction
If Trump's goal was to win support with a speculative tweet about an 75-year-old protester hospitalized after an encounter with police, it didn't work.
Instead, Trump's tweet prompted outrage among those who know Gugino and his interests, anger from Democrats, silence from GOP senators and agony among Republicans who disapprove of Trump's Twitter taunts.
Told of Trump's tweet, Victoria Ross, executive director of the Western New York Peace Center, was aghast.
"Oh, that's ridiculous," said Ross, who has known Gugino for years. "They are just plain making things up."
She said Gugino is a longtime peace activist from Amherst and a devotee of the Catholic Worker Movement, a social justice effort launched during the Great Depression by activist Dorothy Day.
That being the case, Trump's tweet drew a rebuke from one of the nation's most prominent Jesuit priests.
"#MartinGugino is a peace activist and volunteer with the Catholic Worker movement. Why spread rumors about someone who embodies the Beatitudes?" tweeted Rev. James Martin.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has tried to maintain a cordial relationship with Trump, said at his daily press briefing that the president should apologize.
Calling Trump's tweet about Gugino "reprehensible and dumb," Cuomo added: "You think the blood coming out of his head was staged?"
Meanwhile in Washington, Republican senators didn't want to talk about Trump's tweet.
"GOP senators not touching this so far. They won’t weigh in, even when it’s explained to them," tweeted CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju, who questioned Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio of Texas, among others.
But when asked about the tweet, Rep. Tom Reed, a Corning Republican, made clear he didn't approve.
"Well, you know, this is an area where again I would reiterate, to the President, you know these times call for empathy," Reed said.
Reed's reaction was mild, though, compared to that of some Republicans.
"NOW can we finally talk frankly as a nation about how diseased a mind the president of the United States has?" tweeted George Conway, the anti-Trump lawyer who is married to Trump aide Kellyanne Conway.
Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary to President George W. Bush, tweeted: "The President’s penchant for trafficking in conspiracy theories is, politically speaking, going to ruin him. This is reckless."
Prominent Republican blogger Erick Erickson offered simple advice for Trump: "Please stop."
That prompted Charles C.W. Cooke, editor of the conservative NationalReview.com, to reply: "He can’t stop. This is who he is. It isn’t shtick, or a tactic, or a political approach, or a mistake. This is who he is. It’s what he thinks, and how he thinks. He has for decades."
