The Berrien County GOP has released a statement amid controversy over its scheduled event featuring January 6 defendants and two men charged and later acquitted in a plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Since word started getting around about the May 9 engagement in Stevensville, American Legion Post 568, where the engagement is to be held, has been under pressure to cancel. And in fact, it has tried to cancel.
In its statement, the Berrien County GOP says, “There is currently an effort underway on social media to sabotage our event and to disparage the Berrien County GOP in the process.”
The party then shares a list of bullet points. Among them are that the chair of the county GOP met on April 2 with representatives of the venue about renting it and told them the event would include “January 6 subject matter.” The party says a rental agreement for the May 9 event was reached at that time and the party paid for the rental with a check with a memo saying, “J6 Event Deposit.” However, on April 14, the Berrien GOP says it was contacted by the venue and told the party had to cancel. The party then told the hall that the cancellation would represent a breach of contract, entitling the party to compensation. From there, there was no more talk of cancellation, at least according to the GOP.
The party concludes by saying, “If the venue is not satisfied with the current agreement, we’d encourage representatives of the venue to contact us directly.”
We reached out to the American Legion Post and were told post leadership wanted guidance from the national organization before commenting.
Below is the Berrien County GOP’s full statement:
