The Oregon man who told Biden, 'Let's go, Brandon,' in a livestreamed Christmas Eve call says the 2020 election was '100% stolen' from Trump

• Jared Schmeck spoke with Steve Bannon Monday and seemed to back Trump's debunked election claims.
• "He should still be president right now," he said. "The election was 100% stolen."

The Oregon father of four who wished President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden a merry Christmas before proceeding to say, "Let's go, Brandon," during a livestreamed Christmas Eve call told the ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon that the 2020 presidential election was "100% stolen" from President Donald Trump.

During a Monday interview on Bannon's "War Room" podcast, Jared Schmeck, who previously told The Oregonian that he wasn't a "Trumper" and that his comments toward the commander in chief were meant in "jest," expressed a sharp opinion on last year's presidential election.

Schmeck, who told the newspaper over the weekend that he was being "attacked" for exercising his freedom of speech, sought to defend his character against criticism he faced for using the coded insult against Biden during the call, which was part of the annual NORAD Tracks Santa program.

"For me, 'let's go, Brandon,' is — and I've said it in other articles: I am a Christian man," Schmeck said. "For me, it's God first and foremost. I don't follow any one man blindly."

He then rejected any implication that he wasn't a Trump supporter.

"That's absolutely false," he said. "Donald Trump is my president, and he should still be president right now. The election was 100% stolen. So I just want to make that clear."

He added: "'Let's go, Brandon,' is more than just 'F Joe Biden.' 'Let's go, Brandon,' encompasses the entirety of our frustration with Joe Biden, the administration, the leftist mob, the cancel culture, the mainstream media. ... They're the ones who made this a thing."

The phrase became a rallying cry among conservatives after the NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast said the crowd in the background of her October interview with the NASCAR driver Brandon Brown was chanting, "Let's go, Brandon," when the audience could be heard chanting, "Fuck Joe Biden."

Many Republicans have said they feel as though the reporter who used the sanitized language to deflect from the anti-Biden chant was engaging in a form of media bias, rather than an attempt to avoid violating strict Federal Communications Commission rules against swearing during the motorway broadcast.

In an interview with The New York Times earlier this month, Brown expressed little enthusiasm for his name being attached to a divisive political debate.

"Our whole navigation is, you want to appeal to everybody, because, all in all, everybody is a consumer," Brown told the media columnist Ben Smith. "I have zero desire to be involved in politics."

Schmeck, in making his statements, appeared to be amplifying Trump's debunked claims of election malfeasance. Numerous lawsuits filed by the former president's campaign lawyers were unsuccessful in proving any sort of massive fraud tipped the election to Biden.

On the Christmas Eve call, Biden urged children to adhere to a 9 p.m. bedtime to aid Santa Claus.

"Well, have a merry Christmas. Have a wonderful Christmas," the first lady said to Schmeck.

"I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas as well," Schmeck responded.

He then added: "Merry Christmas and let's go, Brandon."

The first lady appeared to wince at the statement, but her husband responded, "Let's go, Brandon. I agree."

After the call, Schmeck, a former police officer who said the statement was meant as a joke, received a torrent of online condemnation, which prompted him to respond over the weekend.

"I understand there is a vulgar meaning to 'let's go, Brandon,' but I'm not that simple-minded, no matter how I feel about him," he said of Biden at the time.

"He seems likes he's a cordial guy. There's no animosity or anything like that. It was merely just an innocent jest to also express my God-given right to express my frustrations in a joking manner. ... I love him just like I love any other brother or sister," he added.