Bubba Wallace Noose Investigation Brought up by Rep. Bill Posey During Electoral College Confirmation

NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace became the center of conversation for a moment during the Electoral College’s confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. Rep. Bill Posey of Florida spoke before Congress and criticized the FBI for its response to voter fraud claims. He compared the response to an investigation into an alleged noose in Wallace’s garage.

“Over a dozen FBI agents were immediately dispatched to fully investigate Bubba Wallace’s garage door,” Posey said during the debates about voter fraud. “But sadly, the FBI never responded to my request to investigate massive voting irregularity accusations. Like the video footage from Georgia that we all wish we didn’t need to see.”

Posey continued and said that voting is a Constitutional right, as well as a civil right. He said that people must protect it. He also took aim at the Department of Justice, the CIA, the Postmaster General and several other government entities for the response to the claims of voter fraud.

The referenced incident occurred before the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. A member of the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 team found a garage door rope pull fashioned into the shape of a noose. He alerted the higher-ups, including NASCAR President Steve Phelps. The man in charge of stock car racing’s governing body then informed the authorities, which prompted an investigation.

The FBI responded to Phelps and sent 14 agents to Talladega. The federal organization determined after multiple days that the noose was not a hate crime. They discovered photos from the fall race that showed the rope with the noose handle was in the garage prior to Wallace’s arrival — although it was the only stall out of 1,684 that had a rope pull tied with a noose handle.

“It’s been an emotional few days, ” Wallace wrote on Twitter after learning the outcome of the investigation. “First off, I want to say how relieved I am that the investigation revealed that this wasn’t what we feared it was. I want to thank my team, NASCAR and the FBI for acting swiftly and treating this as a real threat. I think we’ll gladly take a little embarrassment over what the alternatives could have been, Make no mistake, though some will try. this should not detract from the show of unity we had on Monday, and the progress we’ve made as a sport to be a more welcoming environment for all.”

When the FBI determined that there was no hate crime, critics took to Twitter to call Wallace “Bubba Smollett” while saying that he perpetuated a hoax. President Donald Trump also called for the driver to apologize. The comments continued throughout the remainder of the NASCAR season. Now they have surfaced once again, albeit during an Electoral College confirmation.