On call with Trump, SC Gov. McMaster says looters may have been paid, offers no evidence
During a call with the president, Gov. Henry McMaster said some of the agitators may have been paid if they were arrested during demonstrations protesting the death of George Floyd.
The comments were made on a phone call Monday with President Donald Trump where the president called on governors around the country to call up the national guard to quell violent protests that have occurred in the aftermath of Floyd’s death while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
“It’s time to get serious about prosecuting these people, finding out where their organizations are, who is paying them money,” McMaster said. “We knew some of them get a bonus if they get arrested. They’re putting out their hands to get arrested. Police are telling them to get out of there, and more are arrested.”
A spokesman for McMaster said the governor was referring to anecdotal evidence he has received in private conversations but would not get into the details of those conversations, including what specific evidence he heard or who he was talking to.
During the call, McMaster said a $500 fine or 30 days in jail for violating curfew is just the “cost of doing business” for outside agitators at protests that turned violent, and there is a need for grand jury investigations.
“I don’t think we’re prosecuting enough people,” said McMaster who added there could be grand jury investigations as a way to compel testimony from the agitators.
Audio of the phone call was posted by the Washington Post.
McMaster said the state believes there were “from the outside.”
“A lot of the agitators, a lot are from outside, no doubt about it. They’re part of this antifa, or whatever you call it,” McMaster said offering no evidence. Antifa is shorthand for antifascist and refers to “a loose collection of groups, networks and individuals who believe in active, aggressive opposition to far right-wing movements,” according to the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism.
President Donald Trump has blamed an outbreak of protests, some of which have been violent, on antifa, going as far as to say he’s going to designate it a domestic terrorist group, something the president cannot do as there is no federal designation for a domestic terror group.
The notion that protesters are being paid echoes conspiracy theories about progressive wealthy people funding protests. Billionaire and philanthropist George Soros was the target of one such theory this week claiming he was funding violence in Minneapolis. Politifact says that’s not true.
McMaster did not say who or what organizations he thinks are paying protesters, and did not bring up Soros theories during the call.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott was asked on Monday if there were protesters who were being paid.
“We haven’t gotten quite that far,” Lott told reporters.
However, five years ago during the Confederate Flag protests, Lott said he arrested a protester from Virginia who was paid and given a bus ticket to come to Columbia and “create havoc.”
“We’ve experienced that before, it’s the same type of stuff. We’re getting all of that,” Lott said. “Right now our immediate concern is we keep things safe and property safe. The investigations will go on and those will be held accountable.”
During the weekend’s protests, five people from out of state — hailing from Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Georgia — were charged with looting and violating the curfew.
“We’re seeing the same thing here, that’s what we hear. The local organizers are actually asking for help. They say ‘we can’t control these people,’ ” Lott said referring to agitators who turned protests violent. “They’re very organized. They know what they’re doing.”
The Columbia Police Department said Tuesday it did not have any evidence “at this time” of demonstrators involved in violence during protests being paid.
The State also reached out to the State Law Enforcement Division on whether they saw evidence of paid protesters. SLED has yet to comment on the governor’s remarks.
During the protests on Saturday, there were windows broken, firecrackers thrown and shots fired into the air by agitators, McMaster said.
McMaster also mentioned the arrest of Dominic Gladden, 19, of St. Matthews in Columbia, who was found with a handgun and 70 rounds of ammunition during Sunday’s protest.
“We got him locked up and hope to get some information from him,” McMaster said.
Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, while he was subdued and lying on his stomach, pleading that he could not breathe. The officer has been fired, and charged with third degree murder and manslaughter.
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 2:13 PM.
