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‘Lives Are At Risk,’ Hillary Clinton Warns Over Fake News, ‘Pizzagate’

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Pizzagate: Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal

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Pizzagate: Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal

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The web of conspiracy theorists, Russian operatives, Trump campaigners who manufactured ‘news’ that Hillary Clinton ran a child-sex ring.

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Trump hosts event featuring QAnon, 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theorist at Mar-a-Lago

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A prominent adherent of the QAnon and "Pizzagate" conspiracy theories posed for photos with former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday night after speaking at an event hosted at the club, according to photos and videos posted to social media.

The event came two weeks after Trump had dinner at Mar-a Lago with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who recently spoke positively about Hitler, and far-right YouTuber Nick Fuentes, who the Department of Justice has labeled a white supremacist. The meeting sparked outrage despite Trump's claim he did not know who Fuentes was.

Videos and photos posted to social media appear to show Liz Crokin, a prominent promoter of QAnon and pro-Trump conspiracy theories, speaking at an event at Mar-a-Lago and later posing for photos with Trump. In one photo, the duo make a "thumbs up" sign together.

According to social media posts, the event was billed as a fundraiser in support of a "documentary" on sex trafficking -- one of the pillars of the QAnon conspiracy theory. The website for the film, which includes multiple falsehoods and claims of mass sex-trafficking in Hollywood, boasts that it is "Banned by YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and PayPal."

Mar-a-Lago often hosts events for outside groups.

"You are incredible people, you are doing unbelievable work, and we just appreciate you being here and we hope you're going to be back," Trump said in remarks to the crowd, according to a video of his speech.

A representative for the Trump campaign did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.

Former President Donald Trump announces that he will once again run for president in the 2024 presidential election during an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., Nov. 15, 2022.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, FILE

"Tonight I had the privilege and honor to speak at America's Future fundraiser to combat child trafficking at Mar-A-Lago," Crokin wrote in a social media post, claiming that while she was at Trump's club she discussed "Pizzagate" -- a viral conspiracy theory that falsely claims prominent Democrats were running a child-sex trafficking ring out of a pizza shop in Washington, D.C.

Darlene Swaffar, a former Republican congressional candidate who attended the event, told ABC News she was happy to see the former president address attendees. She also said that other prominent conservatives who were in attendance included former national security adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, and Seth Keshel, a retired U.S. Army captain who has worked to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. Swaffar posted photos with both Flynn and Palin taken at the event.

Swaffar told ABC News the fundraiser had different events based on how much attendees gave. "For attendees there was a reception portion, and for those that contributed a little bit more there was the dinner portion," she said.

When asked about the event hosting a QAnon conspiracy theorist, Swaffar told ABC News she did not hear anything about QAnon or conspiracy theories at the event, saying she didn't see "any communication on that."

After the event at Mar-a-Lago, Crokin posted on social media that it was time to stop "tip toeing" around the Pizzagate conspiracy, saying "It's time for the FULL TRUTH to come out!"

Conklin was featured last year in the HBO Docuseries "Q: Into the Storm." In a video, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she first was introduced to the conspiracy theory by Crokin.

According to a report on an another interview she gave, Crokin said of Trump that as president, Trump was "dismantling the deep state and one of his top priorities is to end sex trafficking."

Crokin did not respond to ABC News' request for comment on the event or whether she still believes in the QAnon and "Pizzagate" conspiracy theories.

In recent weeks, Trump's newly announced 2024 campaign has been playing defense on multiple fronts. On Wednesday, Trump's namesake real estate company was found guilty by a jury in New York of tax fraud. Last week, Trump on social media called for "termination" of "of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution" over false claims of election fraud.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to a Salon article.

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Trump hosts event featuring QAnon, 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theorist at Mar-a-Lago

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A prominent adherent of the QAnon and "Pizzagate" conspiracy theories posed for photos with former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday night after speaking at an event hosted at the club, according to photos and videos posted to social media.

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The Jeffrey Epstein case is why people believe in Pizzagate

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Jeffrey Epstein, supposedly supplying the trap house for these weirdos, arrested for countless sexual assualt allegations that mysteriously ending up dead, is now being questioned as a head of this strange cult.

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The arrest of the apparent billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein at a New Jersey airport on Saturday on federal charges for crimes he was accused of during the Bush administration should not be surprising to anyone who has followed the news carefully. He may have escaped in 2008 with a ludicrous one-year stint in a county jail that he was allowed to leave six days a week, but his name has never quite been out of the headlines. Between 2008 and 2015 Epstein reportedly settled more than a dozen lawsuits from Jane Does alleging sexual assault; the youngest of his alleged victims was 14 years old.

The only question is why did it take this long? Why was the ludicrous deal that gave Epstein and his fellow conspirators immunity in exchange for a slap-on-the-wrist jail sentence ever allowed to go through in the first place?

The most obvious answer is, of course, that Epstein knows people. Lots of people. A list of his reported friends, business associates, and legal counselors reads like a #MeToo and Manhattan sleazebag All-Star team, with a few stringers pulled in from the media and both political parties: Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Mort Zuckerman, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Alan Dershowitz, Ken Starr, Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos, the current president of the United States. The obscene deal that kept Epstein out of what could easily have been a life sentence in prison was negotiated by Alexander Acosta, the current Secretary of Labor, who was then a federal prosecutor in Florida. In 2002, Graydon Carter, the longtime editor of Vanity Fair, removed references to Epstein's sexual activity from a profile, including testimony from alleged victims, according to the article's author. "He's sensitive about the young women," Carter is said to have explained. Won't somebody please not think of the children?

It will be at least another week before 2,000 or so pages of documents related to Epstein's exploits will be released following the order of an appeals court last week. When we finally see them we will likely be able to answer questions about the identities of the "numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well‐known Prime Minister, and other world leaders" who have also been accused of sexual abuse by Epstein's alleged victims. Is one of them a Razorbacks football fan? Who was the "famous prime minister"? Was Trump speaking from personal experience when he said in 2002 that Epstein "likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side"?

We should keep all of this in mind the next time we feel inclined to sneer at so-called "low-information voters," especially the kookier sort. You know the people I mean. Wackos. Gun nuts. 8channers. Conspiracy theorists in Middle America who watch InfoWars (one of the few journalistic outlets to discuss the issue of pedophilia regularly) and post about QAnon and "spirit cooking" and the lizard people. The news that a globalized cabal of billionaires and politicians and journalists and Hollywood bigwigs might be flying around the world raping teenaged girls will not surprise them in the least because it is what they have long suspected. For the rest of us it is like finding out that the Jersey Devil is real or turning on cable news and finding Anderson Cooper and his panel engaged in a matter-of-fact discussion of Elvis's residence among the Zixls on the 19th moon of Dazotera.

Among other things, the Epstein case forces us to ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions about the real meaning of "fake" news. There is, or should be, more to being informed than fact-checking formalism. If you have spent the last few years earnestly consuming mainstream left-of-center media in this country you will be under the impression that the United States has fallen under the control of a spray-tanned Mussolini clone who is never more than five minutes away from making birth control illegal. If you watch Fox News and read conservative publications, you no doubt bemoan the fact that Ronald Reagan's heir is being hamstrung by a bunch of avocado toast-eating feminist witches. Meanwhile, Alex Jones's audience will tell you that America, like the rest of the world, is ruled by a depraved internationalist elite whose ultimate allegiance is not to countries or political parties or ideologies but to one another. These people believe in nothing. They will safeguard their wealth and privilege at any cost. They will never break rank. And they will commit unspeakable crimes with impunity, while anyone who dares to speculate openly is sued or hounded out of public life as a kook.

Which of these worldviews is closest to the truth?

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The Jeffrey Epstein case is why people believe in Pizzagate

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The arrest of the apparent billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein at a New Jersey airport on Saturday on federal charges for crimes he was accused of during the Bush administration should not be surprising to anyone who has followed the news carefully.

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Weird lyrics might concern people as to what Justin bebier knows about this strange cult, there are weird references and the video depicts strange things and maybe Justin bebier escaped this strange high status cult

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Leaked emails have believed to be secret coded messages of forms of communication when smuggling and eating kids

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Other articles where Pizzagate is discussed: QAnon: The origins of QAnon: ...a conspiracy theory known as Pizzagate. In 2016 the website WikiLeaks released a trove of e-mails that Russian hackers had stolen from the account of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chair for her 2016 presidential election bid.

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'PizzaGate' Conspiracy Theory Thrives Anew in the TikTok Era (Published 2020)

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Explains how tik tok and social media spreads “fake news”

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‘PizzaGate’ Conspiracy Theory Thrives Anew in the TikTok Era (Published 2020)

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The false theory targeting Democrats, now fueled by QAnon and teenagers on TikTok, is entangling new targets like Justin Bieber.

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Shooting at an alleged child sex ring pizza place, aka the name of this whole cult thing

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“Pizzagate” redirects here. For the pizza-throwing incident at a 2004 association football game between Manchester United and Arsenal, see Battle of the Buffet § “Pizzagate”.