Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, claimed yesterday that he was “afraid” that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe encouraged violence at last weekend’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in order to “affect elections” in favor of Democrats.
Staver, who was filling in for radio host Sandy Rios, was asked by a caller if he saw a “concerted campaign to undermine election integrity” by McAuliffe “in light of the fact that there’s a special election” later this year.
“He tried to legalize felons to be able to vote in time for the 2016 election, hoping it would swing the Virginia state towards Hillary Clinton,” Staver said in his response, referring the governor’s order to restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated people who have completed their sentences. “He’s part of the process. He’s part of the problem.”
Staver cited a Daily Caller article reporting on the “absolute failure of the security forces” at the Unite the Right rally, which he asserted means that responsibility for the violence “lies at the feet of Gov. Terry McAuliffe on the statewide level and it also lies at the feet of the mayor in Charlottesville as well.”
“The absolute failure of the security forces to separate the individual, the protestors, the different groups, and literally moving the one group from the park into the absolute direction of the other group, combining them all together when they knew that there was violence that was taking place, and they were standing on the perimeter,” Staver claimed. “So, you know, I think it’s part and parcel of what this governor in Virginia unfortunately is doing. He is one that has brought a lot of disturbing things, I think, to Virginia.”
“Certainly his intent is to affect elections,” Staver said.
