A Trump donor who allegedly surveilled former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch in Ukraine has promoted the right-wing 'QAnon' conspiracy theory
- A Trump donor who monitored the movements of the former US ambassador to Ukraine according to newly-revealed text messages also appears to be a follower of the far-right "QAnon" conspiracy.
- Robert Hyde's congressional Twitter account, HYDE for U.S. Congress, tweeted on Wednesday morning, "Liddle Adam Bull Schiff and the Standard Hotel, I wasn't there either or was I... #fuckadamschiff."
The message appeared to be a reference to a false QAnon-promoted conspiracy that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff was part of a child sex trafficking ring operated out of an LA hotel.
- Schiff played a central role in President Donald Trump's House impeachment and is one of seven impeachment managers who will prosecute the case against the president during his Senate trial.
- Followers of the conspiracy believe that, among other things, the world is run by a satanic cabal of elites and pedophiles led by Hillary Clinton.
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A Trump donor who monitored the movements of the former US ambassador to Ukraine according to newly-revealed text messages also appears to be a follower of the far-right "QAnon" conspiracy theory.
Robert Hyde, a little-known GOP congressional candidate in Connecticut, reportedly sent WhatsApp messages to Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas stating that he had placed Yovanovitch under surveillance. The messages were released by House Democrats on Tuesday night and shed new light on President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate his political opponents.
Hyde's congressional Twitter account, HYDE for U.S. Congress, tweeted on Wednesday morning, "Liddle Adam Bull Schiff and the Standard Hotel, I wasn't there either or was I... #fuckadamschiff."
The message appears to be a reference to a false QAnon-promoted conspiracy theory that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, was part of a child sex trafficking ring operated out of Los Angeles' Standard Hotel.
The QAnon conspiracy centers on an anonymous online individual known as Q, who claims to be a government official with information about a covert plot to overthrow Trump. Followers of the conspiracy believe that, among other things, the world is run by a satanic cabal of elites and pedophiles led by Hillary Clinton and the so-called deep state, who Trump - with help from secret allies, including Robert Mueller - will eventually expose and defeat.
Earlier this year, the FBI designated QAnon a possible domestic terrorism threat. A handful of right-wing, pro-Trump celebrities, including the actress Roseanne Barr and former professional baseball player Curt Schilling, have expressed support for the conspiracy and its followers.
Hyde, who was until recently was best known for writing an obscene tweet about former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, is likely targeting Schiff because he played a central role in Trump's House impeachment and is one of seven impeachment managers who will prosecute the case against the president during his Senate trial.
Hyde has now been thrust into the center of impeachment.
In a Tuesday night tweet, Hyde argued that he was "playing with" Parnas in the newly-released messages and not serious about surveilling the ambassador.
"How low can liddle Adam Bull Schiff go? I was never in Kiev," he wrote. "For them to take some texts my buddy's and I wrote back to some dweeb we were playing with that we met a few times while we had a few drinks is definitely laughable. Schiff is a desperate turd playing with this Lev guy."
In a message sent during Yovanovitch's impeachment testimony in November, during which she described being warned to leave Ukraine over threats to her security, he described her as a "traitor" and "scumbag."
The Trump resort incident
Late Tuesday, Mother Jones obtained a report from police in Florida that details how officers were called to the Trump Doral Miami resort in May 2019 with a report of a "male in distress fearing for his life."
The man was Hyde, the report said. He claimed "he was in fear for his life, was set up and that a hit man was out to get him."
"Mr. Hyde continued to act paranoid telling us not to stop next to certain vehicles…[H]e explained that he was scared due to several painting workers and landscape workers trying to do harm to him because they weren't working," the report read, according to Mother Jones. "Additionally Mr. Hyde explained that his computer was being hacked by Secret Service. And then went on to further explain that the secret service [sic] was arrival [sic] on the premises watching him."
Hyde was subsequently detained under the Baker Act and the Marchman Act, which allow law enforcement to hold people they believe are a risk to their own safety.
In an Instagram post, Hyde confirmed that he had been "Baker Acted" for more than a week, Mother Jones reported.
"I'm not a traitor or a colluder or a conspiracy theorist," he wrote, adding, "Eff you and your intelligence agencies or whatever or whoever was or is effing with me."
Tom Porter contributed reporting.