Italygate conspiracy theory

Short description: American conspiracy theory

Italygate is a pro-Trump, QAnon-affiliated[1][2] conspiracy theory that alleges the 2020 United States presidential election was rigged to favor Joe Biden using satellites and military technology to remotely switch votes from Donald Trump to Biden from the U.S. Embassy in Rome. Fact-checkers at Reuters and USA Today, who investigated these claims, described them as "false" and "baseless".[1][3]

Maria Strollo Zack, a Georgia-based lobbyist and leader of the 501(c)4 organization Nations in Action, said she told Trump about the conspiracy theory at his Mar-a-Lago resort on December 24, 2020.[4] On December 29, Mark Meadows forwarded a letter explaining the Italygate claims to acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.[4] The letter was printed on the letterhead of USAerospace Partners, a company led by Republican businesswoman Michele Roosevelt Edwards.[4]

On January 6, 2021, the Institute for Good Governance—a firm also headed by Edwards—released a joint statement with Nations in Action[5] stating an Italian hacker named Arturo D’Elia had confessed to "using Leonardo computer systems and military satellites located in Pescara, Italy" to change U.S. election results.[4][1][6] Also on January 6, MediaMatters reported supporters of the theory were trying to get "#ItalyDidIt" to trend on Twitter.[7]

According to The New York Times , in Trump's last weeks in office, his chief of staff Mark Meadows tried to persuade the Department of Justice to investigate these claims. Meadows emailed Rosen a link to a YouTube video about the claims; Rosen forwarded the email to his deputy Richard Donoghue, who responded it was "pure insanity".[8][9][10][11][12]

## See also

* Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Fact check: Evidence disproves claims of Italian conspiracy to meddle in U.S. election (known as #ItalyGate)". Reuters. 2021-01-15. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-fact-check-debunking-italy-gate-idUSKBN29K2N8.
2. ↑ "Vatican blackout hoax linked to ItalyGate conspiracy theory". Formiche.net. 2021-01-12. https://formiche.net/2021/01/vatican-blackout-pepe-arrest-italygate-conspiracy-theory/.
3. ↑ Caldera, Camille (2021-01-08). "Fact check: Claims of electoral fraud in Rome, dubbed 'ItalyGate,' are baseless". USA TODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/08/fact-check-italygate-claims-electoral-fraud-rome-baseless/6567335002/.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Jon Swaine; Emma Brown (19 June 2021). "'Italygate' election conspiracy theory was pushed by two firms led by woman who also falsely claimed $30 million mansion was hers". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/italygate-michele-edwards-meadows-trump/2021/06/19/2f6314d2-d05f-11eb-8014-2f3926ca24d9_story.html. "White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emailed acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen a letter ...printed under the letterhead of USAerospace Partners, a little-known Virginia aviation company. In early January, a second Virginia firm, the Institute for Good Governance, and a partner organization released a statement from an Italian attorney who claimed that a hacker had admitted involvement in the supposed conspiracy."
5. ↑ "Press Release: Votes Switched throughout U.S. Presidential Race – Institute for Good Governance" (January 6, 2021)
6. ↑ Marjorie Meyers (6 January 2021). "Votes Switched throughout U.S. Presidential Race – Institute for Good Governance". https://nationsinaction.org/2021/01/press-release-voter-fraud/.
7. ↑ Molloy, Parker (January 6, 2021). "QAnon backers have a crazy new conspiracy theory about the election: Italy did it". Media Matters. https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/qanon-backers-have-crazy-new-conspiracy-theory-about-election-italy-did-it. "..it was promoted in places like Parler, 4chan, Gab, and pro-Trump Reddit clone TheDonald.win...supporters of the conspiracy theory tried to get #ItalyDidIt to trend on Twitter..."
8. ↑ Benner, Katie (2021-06-05). "Meadows Pressed Justice Dept. to Investigate Election Fraud Claims". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/us/politics/mark-meadows-justice-department-election.html. "In five emails sent during the last week of December and early January, Mr. Meadows asked Jeffrey A. Rosen, then the acting attorney general, to examine debunked claims of election fraud [that] ... included a fantastical theory that people in Italy had used military technology and satellites to remotely tamper with voting machines in the United States and switch votes for Mr. Trump to votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr."
9. ↑ Pengelly, Martin (2021-06-06). "Trump aide asked DoJ to investigate bizarre 'Italygate' claim votes were changed by satellite". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/06/donald-trump-mark-meadows-doj-italygate.
10. ↑ Bolies, Corbin (2021-06-05). "Meadows Pushed DOJ to Probe Insane 'Italygate' Election Fraud Theory". The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows-pushed-doj-to-probe-insane-italygate-election-fraud-theory.
11. ↑ "Trump aide asked DOJ to probe bizarre 'Italygate' election fraud claim". South China Morning Post. 2021-06-06. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3136256/trumps-chief-staff-mark-meadows-pressed-doj-probe.
12. ↑ Wild, Whitney; Herb, Jeremy; Fox, Lauren; Cohen, Zachary; Nobles, Ryan. "New emails show how Trump and his allies pressured Justice Department to try to challenge 2020 election results". CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/15/politics/trump-allies-emails-justice-department-2020-election/index.html.

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