Timeline of incidents involving QAnon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A block letter "Q" overlaid with an American flag pattern
A common logo used by QAnon followers

Since the movement's emergence in 2017, adherents of the QAnon far-right conspiracy theory[1] have been involved in a number of controversial events, some of them violent, resulting in the filing of criminal charges and one conviction for terrorism.

2018[]

Tucson cement plant incident[]

In May 2018, Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer livestreamed a Facebook video from the site of a Tucson cement plant, asserting, "This is a child sex trafficking camp that no one wants to talk about, that no one wants to do nothing about." The video was viewed 650,000 times over the ensuing week. Tucson police inspected the plant without finding evidence of criminal activity. Meyer then occupied a tower on the property for nine days, until reaching agreement with police to leave. He later returned to the tower in July, whereupon he was arrested for trespassing. Meyer referenced QAnon and the #WWG1WGA hashtag on his Facebook page.[2][3][4]

Hoover Dam incident[]

Matthew Wright's armored vehicle used to block a bridge over the Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona border

On June 15, 2018, Matthew Phillip Wright of Henderson, Nevada, was arrested on terrorism and other charges for driving an armored truck,[5] containing an AR-15 and handgun, to the Hoover Dam and blocking traffic for 90 minutes.[6] He said he was on a mission involving QAnon: to demand that the Justice Department "release the OIG report" on the conduct of FBI agents during the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.[7][8][9] Since a copy of the Office of the Inspector General report had been released the day before, the man had been motivated by a Q "drop" which claimed the released version of the report had been heavily modified and that Trump possessed a more damning version but had declined to release it. In video recorded inside his armored truck, Wright expressed disappointment that Trump had not honored a "duty" to "lock certain people up", asking him to "uphold your oath".[8][10]

After blocking traffic, Wright drove towards the Arizona side of the bridge, where his tires were flattened by police spike strips. He then surrendered to police after becoming stuck on a dirt road. Nobody was injured during the incident.[11] At trial, Wright was found guilty, and on December 17, 2020, he was sentenced to seven years on a terrorism charge and nine months for unlawful flight, to be served consecutively.[11]

Targeting of Michael Avenatti[]

On July 29, 2018, Q posted a link to Stormy Daniels's attorney Michael Avenatti's website and photos of his Newport Beach, California, office building, along with the message, "Buckle up!" The anonymous poster then shared the picture of a still unidentified man, appearing to be holding a cellphone in one hand and a long, thin object in the other, standing in the street near Avenatti's office, adding that a message "had been sent". This sparked an investigation by the Newport Beach Police Department. On July 30, Avenatti asked his Twitter followers to contact the Newport Beach Police Department if they "have any details or observed" the man in the picture.[12][13][14]

Harassment of Jim Acosta[]

At a Trump rally in Tampa, Florida, on July 31, 2018, Trump supporters exhibited hostile behavior toward CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta. Exponents of QAnon-related theories were at the rally.[15]

The next day, David Martosko of the Daily Mail asked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders whether the White House encouraged the support of "QAnon fringe groups". Sanders denounced "any group that would incite violence against another individual", without specifically responding to the QAnon mention.[16] Sanders added that Trump "certainly doesn't support groups that would support that type of behavior".[17][18]

2019[]

Grass Valley Charter School fundraiser[]

The Blue Marble Jubilee fundraising event at Grass Valley Charter School in Grass Valley, California, scheduled for May 11, 2019, was canceled as a precaution after a tweet by former FBI head James Comey on April 27 using the hashtag #FiveJobsIveHad, in which the first letters of the jobs were GVCSF, was interpreted by QAnon followers as a veiled reference to the Grass Valley Charter School Foundation, suggesting that Comey planned to stage a "false flag" terror attack at the event; the hashtag was also interpreted by QAnon adherents as an anagram of "five jihads", and the time stamp on the post was related to the 9/11 attacks. The police and the FBI received warnings, in addition to the school, which decided not to take the risk of Internet vigilantes attending "to guard the place", as a police sergeant put it.[19][20]

Murder of Frank Cali[]

Anthony Comello of Staten Island, New York, was charged with the March 2019 murder of Gambino crime family underboss Frank Cali. According to his defense attorney, Comello had become obsessed with QAnon theories, believing Cali was a member of "deep state" and, "because of his self-perceived status in QAnon, Mr. Comello became certain that he was enjoying the protection of President Trump himself, and that he had the president's full support" to place Cali under citizen's arrest.[21] Confronting Cali outside his home in Staten Island, Comello allegedly shot Cali ten times. At his first court appearance, Comello displayed QAnon symbols and phrases and "MAGA forever" scrawled on his hand in pen.[22][23] Comello had also posted material on Instagram praising Fox News personalities such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro.[24] The reason why Cali was targeted was unclear, as the person behind QAnon's "drops" had not mentioned the Mafia.[25]

Kidnapping incidents[]

In December 2019, Cynthia Abcug was arrested and charged in Colorado with conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping of one of her children who had been removed from her custody. Her other daughter reported to police that Abcug had been collaborating with an armed male who was "definitely part of this group QAnon", that her mother had gone to QAnon meetings and believed that the child had been taken by "evil Satan worshippers" and "pedophiles".[26] Abcug pleaded not guilty to the charge in September 2020 and was tried in February 2021.[27]

Later[]

On March 20, 2020, Neely Petrie-Blanchard was arrested and charged with kidnapping and custodial interference after taking her two daughters who had been in the sole legal custody of their grandmother. Petrie-Blanchard had made multiple social media posts promoting QAnon including memes and pictures of her wearing QAnon shirts at Trump rallies. She also has taken actions connected with the sovereign citizen movement, and had become actively involved with E-Clause, a QAnon-affiliated sovereign citizen pseudolaw firm.[28][29]

In October 2020, Utah mother Emily Jolley abducted her son during a supervised visit, despite the fact that the boy's father had full custody of him. She had promoted QAnon conspiracy theories (including alleging that child protective services have been involved in human trafficking) and was a member of a Facebook page for E-Clause.[30][31]

On April 13, 2021, a French group styled after QAnon helped a non-custodial mother abduct her eight-year-old child from the child's grandmother, who had been awarded custody due to concerns over the mother's mental stability.[32][33][34]

Trump's 2020 campaign[]

QAnon merchandise being sold at a Donald Trump rally

QAnon supporters claim that they were asked to cover up their "Q" identifiers and other QAnon-related symbols at a Trump campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on August 15, 2019. Although one person who was asked to turn his "Q" shirt inside out when he entered the rally identified the person who asked him to do so as a Secret Service agent, the agency denied this, saying in an email to The Washington Post, "The U.S. Secret Service did not request, or require, attendees to change their clothing at an event in New Hampshire." QAnon supporters also claim that their visibility at Trump rallies has been suppressed for months.[35]

In August 2019, a video posted online by "Women for Trump" late in July was reported to include "Q"s on two campaign signs. The first sign, which said "Make America Great Again", had a "Q" taped to it in the corner. The other side, "Women for Trump" had the "O"s in "Women" and "for" pasted over with "Q"s. The images which included the altered signs were clearly taken at a Trump campaign rally, which have increasingly attracted adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, so it is unknown if those particular signs were selected for inclusion deliberately or not.[36] The video has since been taken down.[37]

2020 and later[]

Protester wearing a QAnon t-shirt at a Proud Boys march for Trump in December 2020.

In July 2020, Business Insider reported that according to Media Matters for America, a left-leaning media monitoring group, Trump's reelection campaign relied on a network of QAnon-related accounts to spread disinformation and propaganda on social media, especially Twitter. An analysis of 380,000 tweets sent between early April and the end of May 2020, and another of the most popular words used by 1,000 accounts, showed that the QAnon network "is playing a key role in generating and spreading Trump's propaganda".[38]

The Washington Post reported at the beginning of August 2020 that adverts for Trump's campaign had shown images of supporters with prominent QAnon merchandise. Thousands of comments on YouTube saw these details as signs of victory.[39]

The New York Times wrote that QAnon adherents had been shaken by Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential elections, following years of reassurance that Trump would win by a landslide. Some followers repeated unsubstantiated claims that there had been widespread voter fraud and that Trump had actually been reelected, while others began to accept Biden's victory.[40] On the day of Biden's inauguration, participants on 8kun differed in their views on the future of their cause. Ron Watkins, a former 8kun administrator and major figure in spreading QAnon,[41] suggested it was time to "go back to our lives as best we are able" and "as we enter into the next administration please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years." A board moderator deleted the Q message history and was threatened with death after the content was restored by others. Some suggested that Biden was "part of the plan".[42] Many became disillusioned; the alt-right, white nationalists and neo-Nazis thereafter aimed to recruit such people.[43][44][45]

In February 2021, Media Matters published analysis finding that QAnon adherents were praising the recent 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, in which the military overthrew the democratically elected government, and advocating a similar coup in the United States.[46] In May 2021, a conference called "For God & Country: Patriot Roundup" was organized in Dallas, Texas by influencer John Sabal (also known as "QAnon John") and his girlfriend.[47] Though Sabal claimed that it was not a "QAnon conference", multiple high-profile QAnon figures took part to the event. Other keynote speakers included lawyers L. Lin Wood, Sidney Powell, who had been involved in the Trump 2020 campaign, and another Trump associate, General Michael Flynn. When an audience member said, "I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can't happen here", Flynn responded, "No reason. I mean, it should happen here. No reason. That's right." After his words were reported, Flynn asserted he had "not at any time called for any action of that sort" and accused the press of "boldface fabrication based on twisted reporting".[48][49] He had suggested in December 2020 that Trump should suspend the Constitution, silence the press, and hold a new election under military authority.[50]

Sidney Powell appeared at the same conference, falsely asserting that Trump "can simply be reinstated, that a new Inauguration Day is set", eliciting cheers from the crowd.[51] Two days after Powell's remarks, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times tweeted that Trump "has been telling a number of people he's in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August."[52][53]

2020[]

Tintagel flag[]

QAnon flag flown at the Camelot Castle hotel near to Tintagel Castle

In January 2020, John Mappin (also affiliated with Turning Point UK) began to fly a Q flag at the Camelot Castle hotel near to Tintagel Castle in England.[54] Advocacy group Hope not Hate said, "Mappin is an eccentric figure, considered outlandish even by his fringe rightwing peers. This childish ploy is a weak attempt at getting attention for himself and his marginal Turning Point UK organisation, and is better off being ignored."[55]

Austin Steinbart arrest[]

In April 2020, QAnon influencer Austin Steinbart, also known as "Baby Q", who claimed that he was a secret agent working for Trump and that Q was his own time-travelling future self, was arrested by the FBI on an extortion charge.[56][57] Steinbart had hacked into the records of a California-based medical facility, obtained private information about celebrity patients and threatened the company to leak the information.[56][58] His followers had also been harassing a technology firm which had deleted some of his files on copyright grounds.[56] Court documents described Steinbart as a young man with "unaddressed behavior or mental health issues", willing to break the law to build up his status as a conspiracy theorist. Steinbart pleaded guilty and was released for time served in April 2021.[57]

Jessica Prim arrest[]

In April 2020, Jessica Prim was arrested carrying several knives after live-streaming her attempt to "take out" presidential nominee Joe Biden. Prim was arrested in New York City on a pier where she appeared to have been trying to get to the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort. QAnon claimed the ship was used by a cabal of pedophiles. During her arrest, Prim was reportedly shown crying and asking police, "Have you guys heard about the kids?"[59]

Before her arrest, Prim posted on Facebook that Hillary Clinton and Biden "need to be taken out" and that "Hillary Clinton and her assistant, Joe Biden and Tony Podesta need to be taken out in the name of Babylon! ... I can't be set free without them gone. Wake me up!!!!!"[59]

Prim's Facebook page was filled with references to QAnon. She encouraged her Facebook followers to check out QAnon "clues". In a video posted just hours before her arrest, Prim ranted about the "Frazzledrip" video which supposedly depicted Hillary Clinton and her aide Huma Abedin murdering a child.[59][60]

Intrusion into Justin Trudeau's residence[]

On July 2, Corey Hurren, a Canadian Army reservist and sausage-making business owner, rammed a truck through the gates of Rideau Hall, the temporary residence of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Hurren, who carried a gun, was arrested 13 minutes later. He had published QAnon-related content and hashtags on his company's Instagram feed.[61][62] At the time of his arrest, he told officers that his goal had been to "make a statement" to Trudeau by showing up during one of his daily media briefings.[63]

At this trial, Hurren pleaded guilty to seven weapons-related charges and one charge of mischief, and explained that he had wanted to "arrest" Trudeau over the COVID-19 restrictions,[63] which he said were damaging his business,[61] and over the federal ban on assault-style firearms. The court commented that Hurren had committed a "politically motivated, armed assault" to intimidate the government, showed no remorse and hadn't renounced his beliefs in conspiracy theories. In March 2021, he was sentenced to six years in prison and a lifetime firearm ban.[63]

Misinformation about wildfires[]

Main article: 2020 Western United States wildfire season

As wildfires spread across large parts of the Western U.S. in September 2020, false rumors spread on social media that antifa activists were setting fires and preparing to loot property that was being evacuated. Some residents refused to evacuate based on the rumors, choosing to defend their homes from the supposed invasion. Authorities pleaded with residents to ignore the false rumors.[64] A firefighters' union in Washington state described Facebook as "an absolute cesspool of misinformation" on the topic. QAnon followers participated in the misinformation, with one false claim that six antifa activists had been arrested for setting fires amplified by Q specifically.[65][66] Days earlier, Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr had amplified false social media rumors that planes and buses full of antifa activists were preparing to invade communities, allegedly funded by George Soros.[67][68][69][70][71][72]

2020 presidential election[]

Main article: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election
See also: 2020–21 United States election protests and Italygate conspiracy theory
A pro-Trump protester wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a common QAnon logo, at the "Stop the Steal" rally on November 14, 2020

Near Philadelphia's Convention Center, where mail-in ballots were being counted, two men from Virginia were taken into custody based on a tip of a threat of an attack with AR-15s. Bumper stickers on their truck referenced QAnon.[73][74]

As unsubstantiated allegations of voting fraud spread following Trump's defeat in the election, QAnon followers advanced a hoax that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems had deleted millions of Trump votes. The hoax was repeated on the far-right cable news outlet One America News Network, and Trump tweeted about it.[75][76] The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced that the election was the most secure in American history, with "no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised".[77]

Based on a false interpretation of the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, according to which it transformed the federal government into a corporation and rendered illegitimate every president elected thereafter, some QAnon adherents believed that the 18th president (Ulysses S. Grant, who was in office 1869–1877) was the last legitimate president. They believed that Trump would be sworn in as the 19th president on March 4, 2021, the original inauguration date until the Twentieth Amendment changed it to January 20 in 1933, and that he would restore the federal government.[78] This claim was developed by the sovereign citizen movement.[79][80] Based on intelligence that an identified but undisclosed militia group might attempt an attack on the Capitol on that date, the U.S. Capitol Police issued an alert on March 3. House leadership subsequently rescheduled a March 4 vote to the previous night to allow lawmakers to leave town.[81] However, Newsweek reported a recent skepticism towards the March 4 idea developing among QAnon adherents, who rescheduled the purported date of Trump's re-inauguration to March 20, the 167th anniversary of the founding of the Republican Party.[82]

Murder of Chris Hallett[]

On November 15, Christopher "Chris" Hallett, who operated the pseudolaw firm E-Clause, was murdered by one of his associates, Neely Petrie-Blanchard, a non-custodial mother who had kidnapped her children in January of the same year. Hallett advertised his services through a social media community of conspiracy theorists which included QAnon supporters like Petrie-Blanchard as well as flat earthers, though according to his family he did not share those beliefs himself.[29] E-Clause notably associated with a QAnon group calling itself the Pentagon Pedophile Task Force.[28] Petrie-Blanchard, who had relied on E-Clause to win back custody of her children, started out as a client and later worked for the firm ; she had ultimately come to believe that Hallett was involved in the government conspiracy against her.[83][84][85][29]

2021[]

Attack on the U.S. Capitol[]

Main article: 2021 United States Capitol attack
See also: Killing of Ashli Babbitt
A QAnon emblem (upper left) is raised during the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.
A QAnon emblem (upper left) is raised during the 2021 United States Capitol attack.

Various QAnon-affiliated protesters participated in the storming of the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Rioters were either seen wearing clothing with Q-related emblems or identified as QAnon followers from video footage.[86][87]

Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was shot dead by police as she was trying to get into the Speaker's Lobby, was an adherent of QAnon. On the day of the attack, she had retweeted a message from conspiracy theory attorney L. Lin Wood which called for the immediate resignation of Mike Pence, Rod Rosenstein and John Roberts and for the indictment of the first two.[88][89] One of the most notable participants in the riots was Jake Angeli, whose presence was widely reported by the media because of his "shamanic" attire and war paints. Angeli, also known as the "QAnon Shaman", was a known QAnon supporter who had participated in various protests.[90] On January 12, Facebook and Twitter announced that they were removing "Stop the Steal" content and suspending 70,000 QAnon-focused accounts, respectively.[91] On April 19, 2021, the Soufan Center reported that Russia and China had amplified and "weaponized" QAnon stories around the time of the storming of the Capitol "to sow societal discord and even compromise legitimate political processes."[92][93]

Interruption of Ghislaine Maxwell court hearing[]

On January 19, 2021, a hearing on the unsealing of documents related to a settled Ghislaine Maxwell civil defamation suit with Virginia Roberts Giuffre was interrupted after it was discovered that someone present was unlawfully streaming the proceedings on YouTube. The unauthorized stream reached approximately 14,000 viewers, including a contingent of QAnon supporters, before it was shut off after the judge warned the room.[94][95][96]

Matthew Taylor Coleman killings[]

On August 12, 2021, a follower of QAnon and a father of two was charged with murdering his two children, a two-year-old son and ten-month-old daughter, with a spearfishing gun in Mexico. The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Matthew Taylor Coleman, fled back to U.S. after the murders and was arrested there. He alleged that he was "enlightened" by QAnon and other alleged delusions that his wife carried and passed on "serpent DNA" to his kids, which compelled Coleman to take them to Mexico and murder them to prevent them from growing into monsters. Coleman is in a Californian prison pending trial for the killings.[97][98]

Death threats against Canadian healthcare workers[]

Romana Didulo, a QAnon-affiliated, Philippines-born conspiracy theorist residing in British Columbia who styles herself as the "Queen of Canada", built an online following in the course of 2021 and caused her community to harass Canadian businesses, governments, and police forces with hundreds of "cease and desist" notices demanding that they stop their activities related to combating the COVID-19 pandemic.[99] Didulo eventually called on her 73,000 Telegram followers to "shoot to kill" all healthcare workers administering COVID-19 vaccines to children under 19. On November 27, a search warrant was issued against her ; she was apprehended the same day and taken to a hospital for a mental health assessment. She was later released.[100][101]

2022[]

National Butterfly Center[]

Main article: National Butterfly Center

After a QAnon-related conspiracy theory spread on social media that the National Butterfly Center was smuggling migrants into the US, in late January 2022 two people visited the center referring to "the rafts with the illegal crossing" and to child rape, then reportedly injured the director, Marianna Trevino Wright, and almost struck her son with their vehicle. In response, the center closed for three days the following weekend as a precaution during the We Stand America rally nearby, and announced on February 3, 2022 that it would be closed indefinitely for "the safety of our staff and visitors".[102][103]

Freedom Convoy 2022[]

Main article: Freedom Convoy 2022

The Freedom Convoy 2022 (French: Convoi de la Liberté) was a protest in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine requirements for truckers to re-enter the country by land introduced by the Government of Canada on January 15, 2022.[104] The trucking convoys were then joined by pedestrian protesters.[105]

One of the lead organizers of the convoy, James Bauder, has previously stated support for QAnon, endorsed conspiracy theories around the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and called for the arrest of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for alleged treason.[106] On February 3, 2022, Romana Didulo joined the convoy with supporters.[107]

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