U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar at a 2014 campaign rally for Doug Ducey. Image by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
A Repbulican congressman from Arizona sent out a series of nearly two dozen tweets today that included a coded message declaring that deceased financier and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein didn’t commit suicide, as officials in New York have concluded.
Over the course of 23 tweets over nearly eight hours, beginning at about 5:20 a.m. Arizona time, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar sent out his coded message. The first letter in each tweet, beginning with the last one that was posted at 1:09 p.m., spells “E-P-S-T-E-I-N D-I-D-N-T K-I-L-L H-I-M-S-E-L-F.”
Gosar, a Republican from Prescott, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The message was first publicized by Drew Morris, a staffer for U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
Read the first letter of @RepGosar’s last 23 tweets starting with this one. https://t.co/q0zBOZcBZp
— Drew Morris (@thedmorris) November 13, 2019
Epstein died in August while in federal custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. The city’s medical examiner determined he hanged himself in his cell, but a pathologist hired by the billionaire financier’s brother says the autopsy is more consistent with homicide than suicide.
Following that pathologist’s report, “Epstein didn’t kill himself” has become a meme, particularly in conservative circles and among conspiracy theorists. Since his death in August, prominent conservatives have posited – without evidence – that Epstein was killed by Bill and Hillary Clinton. At the same time, some on the left have wondered – also without evidence – if the Trump administration had him murdered.
Epstein had close ties to both Bill Clinton and President Donald Trump.
Gosar has a history of promoting conspiracy theories. In August, he retweeted a “clue” from the QAnon conspiracy theory. He is also backing the congressional campaign of Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur who has peddled conspiracy theories.
***UPDATE: After media reports about his hidden message in his tweets, Gosar joked about what he had done and the ensuing attention it brought him, not-so-subtly hiding the phrase “Area 51” in a tweet Wednesday afternoon.
?ll of the tweets pertained to today’s hearing.
?est assured, they are substantive.
?very one of them.
?ll of them.? were brilliant.
? was okay.— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) November 13, 2019
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