A Maine District Attorney, elected in large part thanks to $350,000 in spending from left-wing mega donor George Soros, took to Facebook on Saturday with a bizarre political rant about the political assassination of Charlie Kirk.
In a lengthy statement riddled with falsehoods and Internet conspiracy theories, Cumberland County District Attorney Jackie Sartoris speculated that the Utah shooter may have been motivated by right-wing extremism, suggesting ties to Nick Fuentes, online radicalization, and the influence of “white supremacist and antisemitic beliefs.” She also drew parallels to school shootings and claimed the incident reflected a broader epidemic of violence fueled by guns and online extremism.
“[T]here are now increasing questions about the actual shooter’s possible affinity with the extreme far right, and some very confusing information indicating this may have involved a beef between alt right-winger Nick Fuentes and the victim,” Sartoris wrote.
None of Sartoris’s claims and speculations were accurate.
Federal investigators have confirmed that the shooter was motivated by left-wing political ideologies, not right-wing extremism. The FBI said the suspect’s writings and online activity, as well as other evidence, pointed to grievances rooted in far-left movements, directly contradicting Sartoris’ narrative.
Sartoris issued the statement even after the FBI and several major national media outlets had confirmed that the shooter, Tyler Robinson, was in a relationship with a man who was attempting to “transition” his gender.
The FBI has also confirmed that the firearm used in the assassination was a bolt-action rifle, a common style of hunting rifle that would only be banned under the most extreme gun-control measures, such as Australia’s infamous gun confiscation measures.
Sartoris’ allegations echoed conspiracy theories circulating on the social media platform BlueSky in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. By amplifying those claims in an official capacity, Sartoris risked fueling misinformation at a volatile moment.
Sartoris’ commentary was issued through her official District Attorney campaign account.
Instead, she has responded to her online critics with allegations that they are fascists — the same kind of allegations that appear to have inspired Kirk’s murderer.
In one post, Sartoris alleged that frog emojis were in fact symbols of fascism.
Here’s a screen capture of her full comments.
By mid-day on Monday, Sartoris appeared to have deleted both her personal and campaign Facebook accounts in what might be interpreted as a concession that her falsehood-fueled advocacy strayed far from her official duties as chief prosecutor for Maine’s most populous county.
