Washington GOP Senate candidate suggests deadly Charlottesville rally was a setup: 'We're not going to fall for the lies'

Washington State's Senate seat is held by Democrat Senator Maria Cantwell, and is considered safe.

In fact, it's so safe that the only Republican who wants to challenge her is Joey Gibson, 33, an extremist who leads a group called Patriot Prayer whose rallies often attract white supremacists.

On Saturday, Gibson addressed an unidentified group and in the process suggested that the Charlottesville white supremacist rally was an attempt to discredit movements like his.

He talked about high school football for a long time then about his early days holding his "free speech rallies" in liberal cities to trigger angry responses.

Gibson described the Charlottesville hate rally where an anti-racist protestor was killed and others were beaten as a "deception" and said "we're not going to fall for the lies."

"Charlottesville was basically an attempt to destroy all the freedom rallies all over the country," he said. "These so-called white supremacists, under a guise of conservative ideology, invited all these conservatives to Charlottesville and all these people showed up with all these racist flags... from that moment, no one wanted to rally."

The speech was broadcast carrying the watermark of the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights, a recognized hate group.

Watch Gibson's speech below.