The person behind the “Black Insurrectionist” X account, which widely spread pernicious and baseless conspiracy theories about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz ahead of the election, was a white man from upstate New York with a history of fraud, the Associated Press reported.
The account featured a profile photo of a Black soldier and the tagline “I FOLLOW BACK TRUE PATRIOTS” and had amassed over 300,000 followers before it vanished a week ago. In the weeks and months leading up to the election, Black Insurrectionist had peddled disparaging allegations, based on disinformation, against Harris and Walz, some of which were endorsed by Donald Trump and JD Vance.
Last month, the account posted what would have been a bombshell if it were true—an affidavit allegedly from an ABC News employee saying that Harris was given questions ahead of time in her debate on the network against Trump. ABC vehemently denied the allegation.
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Trump, however, approved, declaring of Black Insurrectionist, “I love the person,” AP reported.
In the week before the account disappeared on Oct. 17, Black Insurrectionist had pushed a false claim that Walz had an inappropriate relationship with a student years before. U.S. intelligence officials said the lie originated from a Russian disinformation campaign.
Now, using public records, AP has tied the account to Jason G. Palmer, a white man from upstate New York. Palmer’s race is only where the controversy begins, however.
AP’s investigation, which also relied on interviews with people who know Palmer, uncovered that the 52-year-old has been accused of defrauding his business partners, struggled with drug addiction, owes over $6.7 million in back taxes, and had his home raided by the FBI a decade ago.
“He’s far from African American,” Kathleen Albano, whose late husband was a business partner of Palmer, told AP.
Palmer himself gave mixed explanations to AP about his relationship to the account.
When the outlet first reached out by email—hours after which the account disappeared—Palmer said he had been involved in it but did not create it, and that he had sold it to someone else, whom he did not identify, in April or May.
“I do not know what is going on with this account,” Palmer wrote last Thursday in an email to AP.
On Tuesday, though, he told AP in an interview that he was involved in making the false claims about Walz this month. He explained that he was a “researcher” as part of a larger group.
He also said that the account was mainly run by his friend, who is Black.
People who knew Palmer were not surprised that he was linked to an account that spread misinformation.
“He owes me a ton of money,” said Albano. “He has a way of roping people in. I always had his number. I knew exactly who he was. But unfortunately my husband got caught up in a lot of those dealings.”
Maureen Bass, an attorney who represented Wells Fargo in a foreclosure case against Palmer, remembered that he emailed her firm a “manifesto” in which he alleged that local government officials were conspiring against him.
“It was rambling. He had been a victim of the ‘Axis of Evil.’ Politicians had done things to him, and had taken his assets,” Bass said. “So this doesn’t surprise me.”
