The Indy riots question Joe Hogsett can't put to rest

Driving the news: Hogsett during a mayoral debate with Republican opponent Jefferson Shreve Thursday night faced a question about his whereabouts at the time when racial justice protests escalated to riots.

• He answered the same question during a debate Monday.

What he's saying: "I'll be glad to answer it again. I worked all weekend long … sometimes that was at home," Hogsett said, reiterating he was "working at home" the evening of Friday, May 29, 2020.

• "I came into the office, worked at the 25th floor [of the City-County Building] literally all day Saturday, meeting with groups of not only protesters, but also law enforcement officers."
• "I was over at the emergency operations headquarters on several occasions. I was holding press conferences to help the public understand what was happening and why it was happening."

The other side: The Marion County Republican Party responded in real time on social media, saying, "We believe this is a lie."

• "If this is true, show us," the GOP posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Context: Conservative media for years have claimed, without evidence, that Hogsett was missing or incapacitated that weekend.

Meanwhile, Shreve stopped short of calling Hogsett a liar but said he would have been more visible if he had been mayor that weekend.

The bottom line: Hogsett said his "regret over and above any other" was "not walking around downtown with Russ McQuaid of Fox 59," which hosted last night's debate.

• If Hogsett had walked with a TV reporter, there would be video footage of him downtown, and he wouldn't have to keep talking about where he was.