Trump-endorsed candidate shared extremist social media posts on stockpiling ammunition and conspiracy theories: CNN

• CNN found previously unreported extremist social media posts shared by Mark Finchem.
• Among the posts is a photo he shared of ammunition stockpile with the message "you need to be prepared."

Arizona's Republican nominee for secretary of state, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has a history of sharing far-right extremist posts on social media, including a post about stockpiling ammunition, CNN's KFile team found.

CNN found previously unreported posts shared by Mark Finchem, an Arizona state representative who says he's a member of the Oath Keepers, that included a board titled "Thought Provoking" on his Pinterest account.

Among the posts are pins showing an ammunition stockpile with the message "you need to be prepared," one comparing former President Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler, and another with a conspiracy theory that the Mexican Army invaded the US. He also has a board called "Treason Watch List" that includes photos of Jesse Jackson, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and former Secretary of State John Kerry, the KFile team found.

The team found posts on several social media websites linked from Finchem's since-deleted Twitter account between 2012 and 2015, according to CNN.

This discovery comes as federal authorities are warning of a spike in threats against federal agents following the FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

Finchem declined to comment to CNN and did not respond to Insider's request for comment. In a 2021 interview with Insider, Finchem said he has a "list of lefties" in the media that included CNN.

Finchem, who would run Arizona's elections in 2024 if elected secretary of state, told Insider during that interview, despite evidence to the contrary, "I believe that there is enough evidence to show that Joe Biden did not win the election."

On January 6, 2021, Finchem was at the pro-Trump rally at the Ellipse and then outside the US Capitol, and he faced ethics complaints about his attendance. He told Insider the people where he was standing, on the edge of the Capitol plaza near the Supreme Court, were "orderly."

"It did not appear to be an unruly crowd, where I was at," he said.

That day, he tweeted a now-deleted photo he took outside the Capitol, captioned "What happens when the People feel they have been ignored, and Congress refuses to acknowledge rampant fraud." Finchem told Insider he was "simply making an observation" about his photo.