Tuberville's denial raises questions [View all]

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(Our view) Tuberville’s denial raises questions

Recently several news outlets, including Alabama Political Reporter and Seth Abramson, have reported that Alabama’s freshman Senator Tommy Tuberville met with President Trump’s family, administration officials, campaign advisers and others on the eve of the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

There’s nothing remarkable about Tuberville meeting with Trump’s inner circle. In fact, Tuberville’s entire campaign for senate was based on the message, “I’m Trump’s guy.” His support of Trump was the platform he stood on when defeating Trump’s former Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, in the runoff and it’s the message he carried throughout his campaign against incumbent Doug Jones in the general election.

Tommy Tuberville was elected because he was Trump’s guy.

So while some may raise their eyebrows upon learning that Tuberville met with the Trump team the night before the insurrection, absent the Capitol attack, such a meeting wouldn’t be noteworthy.

What doesn’t make sense, though, is the senator’s denial that he attended the Jan. 5 gathering at the Trump International Hotel, even as others confirm his presence.

Nebraska Republican Charles W. Herbster, who was the national chairman of the Agricultural and Rural Advisory Committee in the Trump administration, posted on Facebook that night that he was standing “in the private residence of the President at Trump International with the following patriots who are joining me in a battle for justice and truth.”

Herbster then went on to list the attendees, including naming Tuberville.

He later told the Omaha World Herald that they discussed how to put more pressure on members of Congress to object to the Electoral College votes that gave Biden the presidency.

A second man, Txtwire CEO Daniel Beck, also said he was there and posted a photo on social media of himself and others at Trump International. In it, he wrote: “The Trump hotel is Amazing! Fifteen of us spent the evening with Donald Trump, Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Tommy Tuberville, Michael J. Lindell, Peter Navarro, and Rudy Giuliani. We talked about the elections, illegal votes, court cases, the republic’s status, what to expect on the hill tomorrow.”

Another Jan. 5 post on Instagram by a Trump supporter from Georgia appears to show Sen. Tuberville as part of a group photo in the lobby of Trump International Hotel.

When the Alabama Political Reporter asked Tuberville’s office for confirmation that the senator was there, his communications office emailed with a flat denial that he was in the hotel on Jan. 5. Three different sources, including one photo, however, indicate that Tuberville was in the hotel that day.

It’s as if the public is being asked, “Who are you going to believe: us or your lying eyes?”

Again, Tuberville ran for office on the promise that he would support President Trump. His participation in a meeting with Trump’s inner circle on Jan. 5 is not suspicious — but his denial of it sure is.

If, as all evidence suggests, Tuberville was in that meeting, he should just come out and say so. To do otherwise raises questions about what exactly happened in that meeting. - Crossville (TN)

The January 5th summit just gets more and more fishy every day.