THE Trump administration’s nominee to be the head of the Office of Personnel Management is a former conservative commentator with a history of spreading conspiratorial tweets.
According to a CNN KFile review in 2018 archived versions of Gibbs’ Twitter feed revealed he had spread a false conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign chairman on numerous occasions.
John Gibbs, the nominee, is currently the acting assistant secretary for community planning and development at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he has worked at for three years.
Gibbs’ Twitter feed claimed Clinton 2016 campaign chairman at the time, John Podesta, took part in a satanic ritual.
In the past, he also defended an anti-Semitic Twitter user who had been banned from the platform, and made derogatory comments about Islam and the Democratic Party.
Gibb’s Twitter feed has been set to private since 2017 and the few tweet archived and accessible to public view offer only a small glimpse of his activity on social media.
Tweets archived on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, shows him promoting the satanic conspiracy four times between October 31 and November 5 of 2016, using the hashtag #SpiritCooking.
The hashtag originated from an email of Podesta released by WikiLeaks, which members of the far-right claimed, without evidence, that Podesta was involved in a satanic ritual that involved bodily fluids.
In an email to CNN, Judd Deere, a White House Spokesman, defended Gibbs’ nomination.
“Instead of highlighting Mr. Gibbs’ work to increase economic development programs for low-income people or his successful development for more than $9billion in CARES Act funds to respond to COVID-19,” the email read.
“The media would rather dwell on some nonsense from 2016.”
On the other hand, a spokesperson for the Democratic minority on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs raised concerns about the nominee.
“These reports raise serious concerns that should be discussed during the nomination process,” the spokesperson told the outlet.
“Ranking Member Peters will thoroughly evaluate the record and qualifications of any nominee that comes before the committee,” they said about Sen Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat.
Sen Maggie Hassan’s, of New Hampshire, office also responded to the Trump administration’s nominee.
“Sen. Hassan has serious concerns about Mr. Gibbs’s nomination to lead the Office of Personnel Management,” spokesperson Aaron Jacobs told the outlet.
