Assistant attorney general loses job after reports surfaced of racist social media posts
Image from Shutterstock.com.
An assistant attorney general in Texas lost his job last week after reports surfaced that he referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as “terrorists” and promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory on Twitter.
Nick Moutos, who began working in the office’s criminal prosecution division in 2017 and unsuccessfully ran for Congress this year, has also called Islam a “virus” and transgender people an “abomination,” according to an investigation by Media Matters for America and subsequent coverage by the Texas Tribune and the Associated Press.
“As of today, this individual no longer works for the office of the attorney general,” Kayleigh Date, a spokesperson for the office, told the Texas Tribune on Thursday.
In also acknowledging that he lost his job on Twitter on Thursday, Moutos referenced other national media coverage of his recent comments downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Speaking out against the #ChinaVirus #Plandemic & #Democrats using it to steal #Election2020 makes people angry. Stories slamming me & others in #Salon #MensHealth #AlterNet were enough to cost me my job,” Moutos tweeted.
He has amassed more than 14,200 followers since joining Twitter in August 2019. Many of his tweets were directed toward prominent Democrats, such as former President Barack Obama, who he said he prayed to meet “on the #CivilWar2 #Battlefield.”
He frequently referred to female Democratic legislators, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, as “Whores of Babylon.”
He used the hashtags #PlentyofAmmo and #OpenSeasonOnTerrorists while expressing support for Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a white St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters who marched past their home earlier this year.
He also tweeted at least six times about QAnon, a conspiracy group that has been tied to acts of violence and labeled a potential domestic terrorist threat by the FBI. Q is said to be an anonymous government insider who is sharing cryptic information on the internet to expose bureaucrats plotting against President Donald Trump.
See also:
ABA Journal: “Judge reprimanded over ‘snobby ass’ email to Washington Post reporter”
