Politico Highlights Lee Zeldin’s Extensive Ties to Extremist Groups and Trump’s "Big Lie"
NEW YORK – In the midst of the fallout from bombshell January 6th hearings, new reporting from Politico highlights Lee Zeldin’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his extensive ties to far-right extremist groups.
Since day one, Zeldin has stood in lockstep with Donald Trump, voting against his impeachment and refusing to support an investigation into the January 6 insurrection. As recently as June of this year, he’s continued to spread misinformation and lies that the election was illegitimate.
Highlights from the story below.
Politico: Jan. 6 becomes new attack line as New York governor’s race turns ugly
By Anna Gronewold, 7/23/22
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado … is excoriating his Long Island colleague [Rep. Lee Zeldin] for his behavior on the day of the insurrection at the Capitol last year — when Zeldin objected to the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. He’s also begun trying to tie Zeldin to groups like the Oath Keepers.
“To have somebody who you served with take such an extreme position is very hurtful,” Delgado said in an interview this month. “And it’s alarming.” […]
Those in Washington at the time are now reliving [January 6] through the House Select committee hearings investigating the attack, which include new evidence against members of far-right conservative groups who contributed to the violence. Both Zeldin and Delgado made their remarks prior to Thursday’s Jan. 6 hearing, which detailed hours of inaction during the riots from Trump, who Zeldin fiercely supported throughout his presidency.
Delgado pointed to at least one meeting Zeldin had years ago as a congressman with the Long Island chapter of the Oath Keepers. Multiple members of the group now face seditious conspiracy charges for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack.
More recently on the campaign trail, Zeldin has applauded the Long Island Loud Majority, one of the groups the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center classified as “extreme anti-government” in 2021. […]
“Always there fighting the good fight,” Zeldin said in March of the group, which incorrectly argues Trump won the 2020 election.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Zeldin’s congressional campaign sent out a fundraising email telling supporters why he voted against certifying the election: “My objection today is necessary to protect our Constitution, our elections, our people, and our Republic.”
Since then and during his campaign for governor, Zeldin has sidestepped questions on whether his position has changed now that multiple legal inquiries into fraud found no evidence of the claims. He has instead indicated that some election systems adjusted for the pandemic may have created opportunities for fraud that will never be proven one way or another. […]
“The fact that he [Zeldin] continues to pander and cater to these groups to this day, in and of itself is problematic, but that he himself can’t bring himself to say what is in fact the case, while seeking the highest office in the state, is grossly reckless,” Delgado said. “And it’s a willful disregard for protecting the legitimacy of our democracy.”