Italygate is a pro-Trump,

QAnon QAnon ( , ) is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". ...

-affiliated

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

that alleges the

2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...

was rigged to favor Joe Biden using satellites and military technology to remotely switch votes from

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

to Biden from the U.S. Embassy in Rome. The conspiracy was also rumored to involve the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

. Fact-checkers at

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', who investigated these claims, described them as "false" and "baseless".

Details and propagation of theory

Maria Strollo Zack, a

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

-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 Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House ...

resort on December 24, 2020. On December 29,

Mark Meadows Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th c ...

forwarded a letter explaining the Italygate claims to acting

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Jeffrey Rosen. The letter was printed on the letterhead of

USAerospace Partners Michele Roosevelt Edwards (Michele Ballarin before 2020, previously Michele Lynn Golden and Michele Lynn Golden-Ballarin), is a businesswoman and Republican political candidate, known for her claims to have been in negotiation with pirates in Soma ...

, a company led by Republican businesswoman

Michele Roosevelt Edwards Michele Roosevelt Edwards (Michele Ballarin before 2020, previously Michele Lynn Golden and Michele Lynn Golden-Ballarin), is a businesswoman and Republican political candidate, known for her claims to have been in negotiation with pirates in Soma ...

. On January 6, 2021, the Institute for Good Governance—a firm also headed by Edwards—released a joint statement with Nations in Action 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. The Italian bureau of prisons later said it was investigating how two American men gained access to the Salerno prison where they tried to interrogate D'Elia. D'Elia told reporters that he had refused to speak with the Americans, and that he had no connection to the alleged conspiracy, saying, "I didn't steal anything. I didn’t pass anything to anyone. I just created malware." According to Zack, the operation had been coordinated by the American embassy in Rome, with the help of Italian general

Claudio Graziano General Claudio Graziano (born 22 November 1953) is an Italian Army officer who presently serves as Chairman of the European Union Military Committee. He is a former Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), servi ...

who was a member of the board of

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

. Also on January 6, ''

Media Matters for America Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization and media watchdog group. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media ...

'' reported supporters of the theory were trying to get "#ItalyDidIt" to trend on Twitter. Related posts were retweeted by QAnon promoter

Ron Watkins Ronald Watkins, also known by his online pseudonym CodeMonkeyZ, (born April 18, 1987) is an American Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorist and site administrator of the imageboard website 8kun (formerly known as 8chan). He has played a major r ...

and other conspiracy theorists affiliated with the movement. On January 11, a

power blackout A power outage (also called a powercut, a power out, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, or a blackout) is the loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user. There are many causes of power failures in an electricity ...

in Vatican City sparked a rumor among QAnon followers that

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

had been arrested for his involvement in "Italygate" and that the blackout had been orchestrated by the police in order to cover the operation. Around the same time, a photo circulated on the Internet, which purportedly showed Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

arresting Italian president

Sergio Mattarella Sergio Mattarella (; born 23 July 1941) is an Italian politician, jurist, academic and lawyer who has served as the president of Italy since 2015. A Christian leftist politician, Mattarella was a leading member of the Christian Democracy par ...

for his role in the conspiracy; the picture had actually been taken during Pompeo's October 2020 visit to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and showed Pompeo with ambassador

Kenneth Juster Kenneth Ian Juster (born November 24, 1954) is a veteran American diplomat, who served as the United States Ambassador to India from 2017 to 2021. He is currently Senior Counselor at the global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Senior Adv ...

Role of Mark Meadows

According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', during Trump's last weeks in office, his chief of staff

tried to persuade the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

to investigate these claims. Meadows emailed Rosen a link to a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

video about the claims; Rosen forwarded the email to his deputy

Richard Donoghue Richard Donoghue is an American attorney and prosecutor who served as the acting United States Deputy Attorney General, United States deputy attorney general from December 2020 to January 2021. Previously, he served as the principal Associate Dep ...

, who responded it was "pure insanity". ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' commented that Italygate was "the craziest election fraud conspiracy" pushed by Trump's associates, which showed "just how desperate President Donald Trump and his team were to grab hold of something — ''anything'' — that could genuinely cast doubt on his election defeat".

References

2020 hoaxes 2021 controversies in the United States Alt-right Conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump Controversies of the 2020 United States presidential election Fake news Hoaxes in the United States Internet manipulation and propaganda Italy–United States relations Mass media-related controversies in the United States Propaganda in the United States QAnon {{US-stub

Details and propagation of theory

Role of Mark Meadows

See also

References