In Republican lawmaker’s impeachment tweets, a hidden message?
The first letters of 23 of Rep. Paul Gosar’s messages spelled “EPSTEIN DIDNT KILL HIMSELF.” Rep. Paul Gosar passionately live-tweeted Wednesday’s House Impeachment hearing. But savvy observers pointed out a possible different meaning. The first letters of 23 of the Arizona Republican’s tweets spell out “EPSTEIN DIDNT KILL HIMSELF” — a reference that many observers aren’t willing to dismiss as a coincidence. The morbid acrostic, coincidental or not, reflects a repeated conspiracy theory-turned-meme over the death of the financier Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in August, and a subsequent autopsy ruled his death a suicide. He was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges after reports of a sex ring involving underage girls. The circumstances of his death immediately sparked controversy, including a litany of conspiracy theories that he was murdered. Epstein’s connections with powerful figures, from former President Bill Clinton and Donald Trump to Prince Andrew, fed the ballooning speculations. Trump himself contributed to the conspiratorial speculation, telling reporters in August that “I have no idea” if Clinton was involved in Epstein’s death.
It wasn’t long before Twitter observers pointed out Gosar’s tweets, which were posted over the course of several hours. Gosar responded to those reactions with another tweet on Wednesday evening in which the first letter of each line spelled out “AREA 51.”Responding to a request for comment, a Gosar spokesman re-sent the text of the congressman’s Area 51 tweet — font and all. He did not answer whether the tweets were sent by Gosar or whether the Epstein message was intentional. Gosar has been a vocal ally of Trump, and his tweets voiced his support for the president in the face of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Wednesday was the first day of public hearings over impeachment.
