A white couple from St. Louis facing felony weapons charges for pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters walking past their home in June will reportedly speak at the Republican National Convention next week.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey will endorse President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection bid during their address at the convention, which will be mostly online because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing Trump campaign advisers.
“Mr McCloskey will be in full oratory splendor at the RNC,” the McCloskeys attorney Albert Watkins confirmed to St. Louis journalist Gabe Fleisher:
The McCloskey’s, both in their 60s, work as personal injury attorneys.
They were caught on camera brandishing guns at demonstrators walking past their $1.15 million home on a private street. Mark McCloskey wielded what appeared to be an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and his wife waved a pistol.
The couple did not fire any shots. They claimed they were defending their property from an “angry mob.” Video showed protesters walking by on their way toward the mayor’s house nearby.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced last month she was charging the couple with felony unlawful use of a weapon and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault.
Trump has backed the couple. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in July said the president thought “it is absolutely absurd what is happening to the McCloskeys” and “an extreme abuse of power by the prosecutor.”
Trump will reportedly participate during every day of next week’s RNC, per Fox News.
First lady Melania Trump and the president’s adult children — Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump — are also slated to speak.