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Trump Supporter Cesar Sayoc Jr Arrested as Suspected Bomber

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Prior mugshot of Cesar Sayoc, Jr.

So much for the “false flag” theory pressed by some Twight Zoner Republican conservatives, including talk show host Rush Limbaugh and walking self-parody Geraldo Rivera, and Fox News’ Lou Dobbs. So much for it being a “deep state” conspiracy to give Trump and his supporters bad names. The Florida man arrested as a suspect for sending mail bombs that could have assassinated a top leadership tier of the Democratic party and some other top Trump critics has turned out to not just be a Trump supporter, but someone who advertised his support — on the van in which he apparently lived, on Facebook and on Twitter.

A Florida man was charged Friday in connection with the series of bombs found this week addressed to critics of President Donald Trump, law enforcement officials said shortly after more devices were found.

Cesar Sayoc Jr., 56, who has been arrested before, was in custody, law enforcement officials said. DNA evidence played a role in the arrest, law enforcement told NBC News.

He was charged with five federal counts: interstate transport of explosives, mailing of explosives, threats against former presidents, making threatening interstate communications and assault of current or former officials.

Sayoc faces up to 48 years behind bars if convicted of all counts, officials said.

Each device was made up of a 6-inch PVC pipe, a small clock, battery, wiring and “energetic material” that could have set off an explosive, FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a press conference.

“Though we are still analyzing the devices in our laboratories, these are not hoax devices,” he said.

The break in the case came when fingerprints were lifted off a suspicious package mailed to Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and two DNA samples from two other mailings, according to Wray. The prints and DNA linked the packages to Sayoc, officials said.

“This is phenomenal work under the greatest pressure under an incredibly tight time frame,” Wray said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Wray declined to speculate about Sayoc’s possible motives.

Sessions said Sayoc appeared to be a political partisan, “but that would be determined by the facts as the case goes forward. I’m not able to comment on that.”

And Wray added, “We’re concerned about people committing acts of violence under any motivation.”

Sayoc has an extensive criminal past, records showed. He was arrested in 2002 for threatening to throw a bomb; he pleaded guilty and was given a special sentence in which probation is ordered but a formal conviction is not made. He was also arrested for theft in 1992 and 2014.

And the man some have now labelled “The MAGA Bomber” had a history of going after Democrats, The Daily Beast reports:

Cesar A. Sayoc, the Florida man reported to be the mail bombing suspect, frequently posted conspiratorial pro-Trump messages on Twitter or made threats to Democratic leaders, including some who would later receive potentially explosive devices in the mail this week.

Sayoc—who was named by several national media outlets as the man authorities arrested Friday in connection with the attempted bombings—tweeted frequently from what appears to be his account: @hardrock2016.

The account and his Facebook profile, which feature pictures of Sayoc, 56, at Trump rallies, also contain some of the same images plastered to Sayoc’s van, including flags for Florida’s Seminole tribe and collages of pro-Trump and anti-CNN meme stickers.

The Facebook account is almost exclusively pro-Trump content, including pictures and videos Sayoc purportedly filmed at one of the president’s political rallies. And the Twitter feed is littered with far-right conspiracy theories or violent threats aimed at some of President Trump’s most outspoken critics.

He appears to have repeatedly tweeted about George Soros, the liberal billionaire philanthropist who has long been the target of far-right, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

At one point, Sayoc purportedly wrote “you will vanish” in a tweet aimed at the billionaire. Soros received a suspicious package at his Westchester County home on Monday—the first of at least 12 mailed to liberal public figures this week.

Other tweets falsely claimed the February 2018 mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was a false-flag operation orchestrated by Soros and his liberal allies.

And:

Other prominent liberal activists—including Parkland survivor David Hogg and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick—are targeted in his tweets.

“Antifa your next [sic],” the account threatened anti-fascist protesters in one particularly violent tweet that included images of what appears to be dead people killed by a python.

Additionally, the account has tweeted violent threats and pictures of death at Sarah Jeong, a New York Times opinion columnist who became the subject of a right-wing troll mob this summer over her old tweets being perceived as “anti-white.”

Sayoc’s purported Twitter account also sent a gory image of a beheaded goat to comedian Jim Carrey, an outspoken Trump critic, ominously adding: “We will see you real soon.”

Other tweets criticized immigrants or promoted ISIS violence, praising the terrorist group for killing gay men. Elsewhere, he seems to have shared anti-Muslim memes.






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