Protester Pushed to the Ground Isn't Antifa
The Claim
The 75-year-old protester who was pushed to the ground by the police is an Antifa operative.
News posted on
Emerging story
In a tweet Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump suggested that a 75-year-old Buffalo man who was pushed to the ground by police and hospitalized with serious injuries during peaceful protests over the killing of George Floyd was in fact an “ANTIFA provocateur.”
Trump continued by saying that the man, Martin Gugino, “fell harder than was pushed,” and that Gugino was “appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment.”
Misbar’s Analysis
These accusations come from a report put out by One America News, a network well known for promoting conspiracy theories and that is openly pro-Trump.
According to CNN, “The OAN reporter claims that Gugino was using police tracking software on his phone. But there's absolutely no way of telling that from the clip; what's on the screen of Gugino's phone is not visible. And he could just be gesturing with the phone. Again, there's simply no way of knowing.”
Gugino’s attorney Kelly Zarcone responded to the president in a statement saying: “Martin is out of ICU but still hospitalized and truly needs to rest. Martin has always been a PEACEFUL protestor because he cares about today’s society. He is also a typical Western New Yorker who loves his family. No one from law enforcement has even suggested anything 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.”
In the original viral video from last Thursday, the two officers, Aaron Torgalski and Robert McCabe, can clearly be seen pushing Gugino to the ground causing his head injuries.
The Buffalo Police Department initially claimed that Gugino "tripped and fell," in spite of the video. The department’s evidently false claim triggered further outrage, and Torgalski and McCabe were suspended without pay before Erie County District Attorney John Flynn charged them both with assault.
As of right now, there is absolutely zero evidence to support any of President Trump’s or OAN’s claims. As such, this claim is false.
