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Gov. Greg Abbott’s workforce slapped down a viral Twitter declare that his employees approached a Uvalde bloodbath sufferer’s household with a threatening supply of payola for propping up a pro-gun message.
And hours later, after being contacted by The Day by day Beast, the individual behind the Twitter account surfaced to say that that they had been hacked and had been making an attempt to take away the publish.
As of Thursday night, greater than 32,000 customers had retweeted the account @MyCancerJourne3’s description of a supposed encounter with a consultant from Abbott’s workplace simply after viewing their nephew’s physique.
Because the thread unfold throughout social media, with some blasting Abbott and others suggesting it was a hoax, the embattled Republican governor denied the incident ever occurred.
“That is fully false,” a spokesperson wrote to The Day by day Beast. “No fact to it in anyway.”
As a number of Twitter customers have famous, the account had beforehand described falling sufferer to an array of private tragedies, and the publish concerning the purported nephew contained some obvious contradictions. It reported that that they had gone to see their “residing nephew’s physique” but additionally mentioned the nephew was useless.
Additional, final 12 months, the account tweeted that a sheriff in Jap Washington State had killed one other nephew with no different particulars supplied.
The account has additionally tweeted the CashApp deal with of a person residing in Washington State, whose Fb web page mirrored the identical sports activities workforce allegiances as @MyCancerJourne3, and exhibits the identical given identify the account has used to seek advice from itself. The Fb web page was deleted after The Day by day Beast reached out to the person, and he referred to as shortly after publication to say an unknown interloper had hijacked his social media, and that he had contacted Twitter to have the web page disabled.
“Any individual someway acquired into my account,” he mentioned, insisting he had no family members or associates in Uvalde. “It is acquired nothing to do with me or my household in any means.”
He insisted he had been in contact with an legal professional to press fees, however wouldn't share the legal professional's identify or contact info.
@MyCancerJourne3 has on a number of events solicited monetary help from followers for colon most cancers remedies, together with a number of now-deleted GoFundMe accounts. A screenshot of 1 such account, which @MyCancerJourne3 appeared to acknowledge was their very own, included a photograph of the Spokane man and the identify of a girl with whom he seems to share an handle. The girl didn't instantly reply to outreach by The Day by day Beast, and the Washington State man recognized her as his estranged mother-in-law.
The account has additionally tweeted about struggling a stroke, getting positioned in a medically induced coma, and receiving approval for assisted suicide—all of which the Washington State man maintained was correct in his telephone name to The Day by day Beast.
Eileen Grench contributed reporting to this story.