The man who was arrested in Florida this morning on suspicion of being the so-called #MAGAbomber responsible for sending a dozen pipe bombs to Democratic leaders and critics of President Donald Trump has been using social media to promote wild conspiracy theories targeting the Clintons, former President Barack Obama and Muslims.
A now-deleted Facebook page associated with self-proclaimed member of the Seminole tribe Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr, 56, had been dormant from October 13, 2016, when the user shared scores of cellphone videos and photos from a rally for then-presidential candidate Trump and other pro-Republican campaign events.
In many of the pictures taken that day, the man accused of mailing explosives to Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, actor and outspoken Trump foe Robert de Niro and CNN, among other high-level targets, is seen sporting a red ‘Make America Great Again.’
Cesar Sayoc, 56, pictured in his booking photo on Friday, left, has been using social media to promote conspiracy theories targeting President Trump’s political opponents. Pictured right: Sayoc in Washington DC in a MAGA hat.
A now-deleted Facebook page associated with Cesar Sayoc was filled with memes calling Hillary Clinton a liar, and worse
Sayoc made a sport of attacking the then-democratic presidential candidate on every issue
Sayoc repeatedly shared news items and right-wing gossip tying Clinton to ISIS
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Sayoc, who goes by the last name Randazzo on his Facebook page, used the site to disseminate links to Fox News articles and videos lambasting Hillary Clinton and other top Democrats.
In between, he also shared videos documenting his intense workouts and posing up with scantily clad women at a strip club where he apparently worked at one time.
On multiple occasions, he shared content claiming without any evidence that Hillary was using a body double on the campaign trail because of her ‘declining health.’
‘The lord delivering death and America will celebrate,’ Sayoc wrote in a status update about the former first lady. ‘Clinton uses body double fool Americans into her health declines.’
A month before the election, Sayoc shared this item accusing Clinton without any evidence of supply the terrorist group with weapons
Sayoc tweeted several images and posts propagating this old Clinton conspiracy theory
Sayoc also targeted other high-level Democrats, among them former VP Al Gore
The 56-year-old Floridian repeatedly referred to President Obama as a Muslim terrorist and attacked his credibility
Sayoc, who went online by various surenames, attacked Michelle Obama’s looks
A day before attending the mid-October Trump rally, he shared a story from a right-wing site called WeaselZippers.us accusing President Clinton’s former Vice President Al Gore of sexual assault and ‘behaving like ‘sex-crazed poodle.’
His others posts that month included a report about Mrs Clinton’s Benghazi emails, a right-wing site’s story accusing the democratic candidate of selling weapons to ISIS and several other items warning about a looming ISIS attack on US soil.
When taken as a whole, the contents of Sayoc’s Facebook account paint a portrait of a man obsessed with the Clintons and espousing virulently anti-Muslim views.
One meme he shared that September shows what looks like the mugshots of eight Middle Eastern-looking men, with a caption that reads: ‘not all Muslims are terrorists! Some of them are paedophiles and rapists too.’
Two days before his arrest, Sayoc in a tweet invoked the name of the billionaire democratic donor George Soros, who was among the first targets of the #MAGAbomber’s plot
Another meme in the same vain read: ‘Islam: contributing not one damn thing to humanity for over 1400 years.’
It appears from his posts that Sayoc subscribed to a false narrative promoted by extremists on the right that President Obama himself was secretly Muslim.
Commenting on a story about a drug dealer who committed a murder after being released from prison, Sayoc wrote: ‘Obama Muslim terrorist blood on his hands needs to be executed.’
The 56-year-old Sayoc, a registered Republican with a lengthy criminal record living in Aventura, Florida, also aired some of his radical views on Twitter, which he used for the last time just two days before his arrest to send out memes accusing Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum of corruption.
Earlier that day, he invoked the name of the billionaire democratic donor George Soros, who was among the first targets of the #MAGAbomber’s plot.
Weeks prior, Sayoc tweeted several images and posts propagating an old conspiracy theory claiming that during his time as the governor of Arkansas in the 1980s, Bill Clinton covered up the murders of two teenage boys, Kevin Ives and Don Henry, who had accidentally stumbled upon an alleged drug trafficking scheme run by the CIA out of Mena, Arkansas.
‘See Bill,Hil.forget about very close friends of ours Kevin Ives and Don Henry.Bill and Hilary will die had executed MENA, Ark,’ Sayoc wrote in a rambling tweet.
An AutoZone parts shop in Plantation, Florida where a white Van was taken away by police in connection with the arrest of Cesar Sayoc Friday
In this still image taken from a video courtesy of television station WPLG, Sayoc’s van plastered with pro-Trump stickers and images critical of Democrats and CNN is towed Friday
Sayoc describes himself on one of his Twitter feeds as a former professional soccer player, wrestler and cage fighter.
On his LinkedIn profile, Sayoc claims to have attended Brevard College in North Carolina and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and to have studied veterinary medicine.
‘Career decision of becoming a Horse Doctor was always a love for animals, which were here first and never do anything to anyone,’ his LinkedIn bio says. ‘And respect all living things.’
Sayoc makes repeated references to the Seminole Indian tribe on his Twitter feed but on his LinkedIn profile he mentions Filipino ancestry, saying his grandfather was a prominent surgeon in the Philippines.