He created social media accounts pretending to be Trump's family. Now, he faces federal charges.
A man who allegedly impersonated President Donald Trump’s family members on social media to raise money for fake political groups now faces federal charges.
Joshua Hall, 22 of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was charged by federal prosecutors with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He faces up to 22 years in prison.
Prosecutors say hundreds of victims were duped by Hall’s efforts to raise money for the fake political organization that claimed it was to help reelect Trump.
Hall pretended to be members of Trump’s family, including Barron Trump, and created social media accounts that used the family members’ names, prosecutors said. The accounts also used photographs of the family members.
The accounts had more than 100,000 followers and encouraged people to donate to the fake political group, prosecutors allege.
Trump even took note of the efforts and was one of the people allegedly duped. Trump retweeted a story about an account he thought was his sister, but actually was Hall, according to media reports.
The accounts were used to spread conspiracy theories as well, though Hall claimed there was no bad intentions behind his actions, and he was just trying to “have fun.”
Federal officials announced the charges against Hall on June 8 and Hall reposted several comments on the social media site GAB.
“When I’m elected to Congress, one of my first goals will be to sleep with Lauren Boebert. After I do all of that America First stuff, of course. But she is a beauty and definitely my crush in the Congress. Put out the vibe, my people,” he wrote in one.
In another Hall wrote, “Waiting for the day when (Anthony) Fauci, (President Joe) Biden and all of the other globalist traitors flee to live in exile in their homeland of China. They’d be doing America a great service!”
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