All of Lin Wood’s conspiracy theories are baseless.
He predicts the execution of Vice President Mike Pence by firing squad on charges of “treason”; he tweeted that he believes Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts raped and murdered a child on video; he claims hackers from “Lizard Squad” have encrypted evidence of a global cabal of powerful individuals whom intelligence agencies have blackmailed to do their bidding.
Wood — the pro-Trump lawyer behind several failed, groundless lawsuits challenging President-elect Joe Biden’s win — ramped up his conspiratorial efforts considerably during the holidays, spewing scraps from the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory that has taken a strong hold on mainstream Republicans’ talking points, as well as President Donald Trump’s tweets.
Late last week, Wood embarked on a conspiratorial Twitter tear that covered remarkable ground in the last few days, from Pence’s execution to the “lizard squad” and a global pedophile cabal.
The GOP attempted to distance itself from him after the Pence tweets. But up until New Year’s Day, Wood was deeply embedded in Trump’s legal team, and the president has yet to disavow any conspiracy theory he’s spouted to date.
Wood’s introduction to Trump’s legal team came via Sidney Powell, who Trump considered appointing as a special counsel after she was forced to leave his legal team for ― yep ― pushing unfounded conspiracy theories.
Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis publicly disavowed Wood’s statements over the weekend (though in earlier tweets she encouraged Powell and Wood to “Go get em”), and led a small chorus of Republicans who began to disavow him.
The president, however, leaned in and embraced them.
On Saturday and Sunday, Trump retweeted four tweets from Ron Watkins, the former administrator of 8kun (a message board born after the shutdown of 8chan) who is rumored to have authored some of the content that birthed the QAnon conspiracy cult.
In the tweets, Watkins mused about extending Inauguration Day past Jan. 20 and implied paper ballots in Arizona may have been tampered with. On Monday, Watkins praised Wood for “standing as a beacon of light.”
Trump also retweeted the conspiracy account ”@TheRiseOfRod” on Saturday, amplifying the false claim of a “fraudulent election.” Come Monday, the account was, like Watkins, hailing Wood as a fearless teller of truths.
“Lin Wood speaks TRUTH,” the account tweeted Monday morning. “God Bless & Protect Him.”
As the GOP moves away from Wood, it still has an institutional relationship with QAnon, through Trump and several representatives who openly embrace it.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won a House seat in Georgia, is a staunch supporter and recently hired Wood to represent her. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who snagged a House seat in Colorado, has claimed to be “very familiar” with the conspiracy and said she hopes it “is real.”