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Just as noteworthy: Smith’s opponent, heir to the Viking Yacht fortune Bob Healey, dodged questions about if he supports the “Big Lie” and agrees with Smith and Donald Trump that the election was stolen, or if he stands in direct opposition to his party and its former president pulling the strings behind the curtain.
Smith, who still questions the results of the 2020 election, showed his continued allegiance to the most extreme factions of the Republican Party.
Read the whole story at NJ Advance, highlights below:
N.J. Congressman went viral for cleaning up Jan. 6 debris at Capitol. His opponent backed the protest.
By Jonathan D. Salant
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After the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Rep. Andy Kim went down on his hands and knees to clean up the debris left behind by Donald Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol. His action went viral and became a national symbol. One of the Republicans [Smith] seeking to challenge Kim, D-3rd Dist., was there too. But he was on the side of the protesters. And last week, he mocked Kim’s action in a tweet.
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But he [Smith] insists there are still unanswered questions about the election and won’t say if Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential contest.
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He has pitched his tent in the camp of those challenging the election results, speaking at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington the day before the insurrection and using social media to urge Americans to protest in the nation’s capital as Congress prepared to certify the electoral votes making Joe Biden the next U.S. president.
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He [Smith] tweeted that “the calvary is coming” in support of Trump and warned that “Our Republic is under attack from the inside.”
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Dozens of court cases, audits and investigations turned up no evidence of significant fraud or of a stolen election, despite continued claims by Trump and his allies. Numerous experts, including the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Election Assistance Commission, called the 2020 election “the most secure in American history.”
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He[Smith]questions why it took hours for the building to be cleared and what federal authorities were doing after the breach.
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On an interview on a conservative website, Smith appeared to agree that the FBI and Capitol Police were the violent ones, not the pro-Trump protesters that he described as “a bunch of flag-waving patriots.”
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“I mean, it was the feds doing it,” co-host Joe Ottman said, referring to the violence of Jan. 6. “Yes, exactly, it was,” Smith responded. “The feds, the FBI, they were the ones that were violent,” Ottman said. “The police, they were the ones that were violent.” “But look how easy that was for them to do,” Smith said. “How many people on the right have been attacked? How many people who are just honestly freedom-loving patriots — people who love their country — who are now branded as criminals, now have to watch their backs because people think that they are violent because of this false narrative that’s been painted?”
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Politifact said there was no evidence that the FBI incited the Jan. 6 insurrection and USA Today reported that claims the agency “orchestrated” the riot were false. The FBI, though, had an informant with the far-right Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol, the New York Times reported.
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Bob Healy, one of Smith’s opponents in the June 7 Republican primary, did not respond to several requests by phone and email for comment about the insurrection.
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