After the removal of four Confederate monuments in the city of New Orleans was further delayed, a spokesman for Mayor Mitch Landrieu blamed the move on “previous violence and threats” that are largely unsubstantiated.

Landrieu’s spokesman Hayne Rainey made the statement to WWL-TV after the city cancelled the start of the relocation process of the four monuments, which includes Lee Circle, as the issue is still tied up in court.

Here’s the full statement from Rainey:

“Throughout this process, the safety of potential bidders has been paramount,” said Hayne Rainey, a press secretary for Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “Due to the previous violence and threats during the bid process, we will wait to re-advertise the project until we feel confident a resolution in the Court is near and a contractor may be publicly procured so that monuments may be relocated without further delay.”

Of course, Landrieu’s spokesman is referring to an incident where a construction company rumored to be taking down the monuments who then backed out of the job had the owner’s car set on fire, with the local media and Landrieu administration running to judgement that it had to have been members of the ‘Save Our Circle’ group which oppose the monuments.

That claim, however, was debunked when the Hayride exclusively reported how the owner of the company did not back out of the job because of violence and death threats, but rather because they never wanted to do the job for the city to begin with, but was unwilling to forfeit a $10 million performance bond.

Landrieu’s spokesman did not mention the violence by anti-monument protesters who actually poured fake blood all over monuments and defaced them on video footage in front of a rally, exclusively reported by the Hayride.

At the time, the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) said they were unaware of the vandalism, even though the individuals were identified in the video footage.

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