RALEIGH, N.C. — The Republican Party's new appointee to the North Carolina House was at the U.S. Capitol for the Jan. 6 protest-turned-riot and said he was close enough to the Capitol breach to get hit repeatedly with tear gas.
Incoming Rep. Donnie Loftis was the Gaston County Republican Party's choice this week to replace late Rep. Dana Bumgardner, who died earlier this month.
Loftis posted a picture of himself to Facebook ahead of the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal Rally," saying he was on a bus headed to Washington, D.C. He followed up with comment, seen in a screenshot provided to WRAL News overnight by a source who said the posts have been deleted.
“I got gassed three times and was at the entrance when they breached the door,” Loftis, an Army veteran, posted at the time. “I spoke to many service members, and we all agreed that we didn’t want to be there, but we had no other choice. They don’t get it that they work for us. And I mean that in a respectful way.
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