claimed the press used his altercation as proof of some type of greater right-wing campaign, or “an attempt to fit Mr. Smith into the Democratic Party’s portrayal of conservative critics of government as motivated by hatred.”“They used me to silence moms and dads and grandmothers and grandpas and everybody else that we’re starting this movement to protect our children to stand up for our rights, to protect our children and say what we think is right for them.
“So I stepped in, tried to explain to this lady what was going on,” he said, explaining he told the woman about his daughter’s assault by a transgender student. He said he was never “really fighting to clear my name from a disorderly conduct charge, I mean, I’m a country boy, I’m just disorderly sometimes.
But Loudon County Democratic Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj, who was ultimately removed from the case, slammed the pardon as a “political stunt” and an “unprecedented, inappropriate intervention into an active legal case.”