Fake Screenshots Used To Attack GOP Candidate
One source admits to faking direct messages.
Earlier this week, a Republican candidate for Precinct Chair in Nacogdoches County, Ryan Cook, was accused by people online of sending direct messages to underage boys.
Tuesday night, it was revealed that SoCal Populist, the account considered credible in the Ryan Cook scandal by Texas Family Project and conservative media personality Sara Gonzales, had manufactured fake direct messages (DMs) of conversations to make people look like pedophiles.
An X user by the name of Liberty_Sean gained access to a group chat of SoCal Populist where multiple people were actively plotting against Ryan Cook.
The group chat titled “END RYAN COOK WAR ROOM” also discussed an attack on another X user and posting “fake pedo dms.”
The group says they’re attacking the other X user in retaliation for “defending Ryan Cook.”
The entirety of the group’s chat was leaked via Liberty_Sean and a screen recording was posted.
You can pause the video to read the chat.
In the group chat, SoCal Populist admits that those he’s targeting “won’t stoop that low” as to make fake DMs in retaliation and says “people trust me.” He also says he’s “not going to be a part of this publicly because I’m not letting it take down the Cook stuff.”
SoCal Populist then says people are pressuring him about the fake DMs and asks his group to pretend it’s real so he can screenshot his chat conversation to make the fake DMs more believable.
In an X Space last night, where users can voice chat freely with each other, SoCal Populist did admit to working with others to manufacture fake DMs, that he has lost all credibility and that it was “a stupid thing to do.”
Later in the evening, SoCal and the others in the group chat deleted their X accounts.
SoCal Populist was specifically cited as a credible source in Texas Family Project’s article yesterday.
His account was also given credibility by Sara Gonzales of The Blaze and Texas Family Project/Pale Horse/West Fort Worth Management:
Even mass texts were allegedly sent out attempting to connect Representative Jill Dutton to Ryan Cook and accusing Cook of “pedophilic grooming.”
Despite the manufacturing of fake DMs, in our discussions with Cook yesterday, he admitted to some of the messages being real but adamantly denied the more serious ones, claiming they were fake or manufactured.
The credibility of the most heinous accusations of the scandal has been thrown into serious question. Larger accounts who had previously posted on X about Ryan Cook have already begun deleting their posts, including LibsofTiktok creator, Chaya Raichik.
As this news broke very late last night, there has yet to be a retraction or clarification by Gonzales, George Santos, or The Texas Family Project at the time of publication.
Update: This morning Sara Gonzales posted that although some accounts associated with this story have faked screenshots, that the ones she cited were verified real.
The grandma running against Cook has my Complete and Total Endorsement.
Oh what a tangled web we weave when we attempt to deceive. I have no idea how you could possibly keep up with this stuff, LOLOLOL . I, the reader, find it difficult!!!