Cesar Sayoc's Purported Twitter Accounts Regularly Promoted Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories
Cesar Sayoc, the suspect arrested Friday in connection with more than a dozen potential explosive devices mailed to critics of President Donald Trump, had a long history of promoting right-wing conspiracy theories and attacking Democrats on Twitter, including some of his alleged targets.
The two Twitter accounts that purportedly belong to Sayoc read like a compendium of right-wing conspiracy theories, featuring a profusion of disturbing images attacking common right-wing boogeymen.
One of the accounts, @hardrock2016, was cited in a Friday court filing from the Department of Justice. Another, much older account, @hardrockintlent, mirrors the first one and features much of the same imagery and language, as well as images that appear to be Sayoc.
Twitter suspended both accounts Friday afternoon.
Many tweets feature prominent Democratic donor George Soros, long a target of right-wing, anti-Semitic attacks. On Monday, the first package later allegedly linked to Sayoc appeared at Soros’ home in Westchester County, New York.
A frequent target of the tweets was Parkland, Florida, school shooting survivor and activist David Hogg, perpetuating the far-right conspiracy theory that Hogg and other students were actors paid by Soros.
Other tweets accused Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a former chair of the Democratic National Committee, of shady dealings. Sayoc allegedly listed Wasserman Schultz’s office as the return address on the packages sent this week.
Some of the apparent Sayoc tweets also referred to former President Barack Obama’s “Muslim background,” accused Obama of “treason,” and falsely suggested that he did not graduate from Columbia University. In addition to the ubiquitous birther theory, right-wing opponents of Obama called his education into question. Among those was Trump himself, who in 2012 demanded that the president release his college transcripts.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
