Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis lawyer who defended his home from a gang of protesters only to be vilified by some as threat, said Monday that most of the media is in the mob’s pocket.
“You know, the traditional media is right behind the mob,” McCloskey told Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” “We are not allowed to use that word anymore — the large crowd of angry people — and are supporting these entities which are from my understanding Marxist and oppose everything that I stand for and I hold dear.”
McCloskey faced antagonism when he appeared on CNN host Chris Cuomo’s evening show. (RELATED: ‘It Really Has No Meaning’: Economist Thomas Sowell Dismisses ‘Systemic Racism’)
The attorney suggested it was time for more citizens to face down the mob but that they are afraid to do so. “Patrick Henry said, ‘Give me liberty or give me death;’ now everybody’s afraid of losing their job.”
McCloskey confirmed that police came Friday to seize his AR-15 rifle that was seen in video that went viral over the internet as the lawyer stood in front of his home and told the protesters to go away.
“The police were really very professional and very nice. The cops that came out to issue the search warrant on us, they were almost apologetic … They were doing their job.”
Some Republican members of Congress have formally objected to the seizure of the weapon.
McCloskey revealed that his attorney had advised him “not to be on the show tonight because the rumor is that we are gong to be indicted shortly.” He criticized circuit attorney Kim Gardner for “wanting to prosecute” him and releasing 35 of the rioters who “torched and looted downtown St. Louis,” and noted that “I didn’t shoot anybody, I just held my ground, protected my house and I’m sitting here on television tonight instead of dead or putting out the smoldering embers of my home.”
McCloskey said people have no choice but to protest themselves, their families and their property “when you have certain elements of society encouraging violence at the same time asking the police to stand down.” (RELATED: Civil Rights Activist: Left Is Not Fighting For Social Justice But For ‘Anarchy’)
Graffiti is seen on a burned out 7Eleven after riots and looting overnight on June 2, 2020 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
But the lawyer said there is little vocal support for doing so because “the problem is that nobody stands up and supports them.” McCloskey noted that as a self-employed attorney, he doesn’t have to worry about repercussions at work — “but what if I was an employee somewhere?”
“If I did what I did and I was in employee of anybody else I would have been canned the next day, my family would have been canned … This is the kind of social pressure that keeps people fromt standing up and defending themselves. I think it’s time for people to take a different stand, to actually stand up and have some risk.”