Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes on Monday repeated a thoroughly debunked narrative about a confrontation between Catholic School boys and a Native American protester.
Speaking at an event marking Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Barnes used the incident to chastise America's record on race relations.
"America can still be a mob of high school students wearing red hats inspired by what they see in the nation's highest office," he said. "The audacity of surrounding and taunting a Native American Vietnam War veteran."
"I'm gonna say his name!" Barnes then shouted. "Nathan Phillips, an American hero! Nathan Phillips, an American hero! Nathan Phillips, an American hero! The audacity of those high school children yelling 'Build the wall' is convenient ignorance."
Extensive video of the encounter does not show the students chanting "Build the wall" as Barnes asserts, and it makes clear that the students did not approach and surround Phillips; but rather he approached them and beat his drum in the face of Covington Catholic junior Nathan Sandmann.
Sandmann released a statement to the media on Sunday, and the video appears to back his version of events.
Barnes, however, ignored this video evidence Monday when he claimed that the boys were in fact the instigators, even going so far as to call them a "mob."
Barnes has in recent years taken to Twitter to blast various Republicans for lying.
Barnes has thus far not explained why he continued to spread the false narrative that the Covington Catholic students were the aggressors in Friday's altercation.