He had a Microchip on his shoulder against Hillary
A notorious Twitter troll known as “Microchip” told a Brooklyn federal jury that he spread chaos, controversy and misinformation online to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the 2016 presidential election.
“I wanted to infect everything,” Microchip testified Wednesday at the trial of fellow farright troll Douglass Mackey, 32, who’s accused of posting images on Twitter designed to trick people into thinking they could vote by text.
Microchip, who was allowed to testify using only his screen name, cut a striking figure in the fourth-floor courtroom at Brooklyn Federal Court.
Heavyset and bearded, with his hair slicked back, he wore a royal blue sweatshirt, sweatpants, sandals and socks. He often leaned back, looking toward the ceiling or crossing his arms as he viewed exhibits and answered questions.
He described how he grew his online following, used psychological tricks to get ideas and memes in front of Hillary Clinton supporters and tweeted hundreds of times a day.
His ultimate goal, he said, was “to cause as much chaos as possible, so that it would bleed over to Hillary Clinton and diminish her chances of winning.”
Mackey, a former Manhattan resident now living in Florida, is accused of tweeting fake Clinton campaign ads under his popular Twitter moniker “Ricky Vaughn” a week before the 2016 election, urging voters to “avoid the line” and vote by text even though that was impossible.
He’s charged with conspiracy against rights, which carries a possible 10-year sentence.
Microchip pleaded guilty to the same charge and is cooperating with the government on the Mackey case and other FBI investigations.
At times Wednesday, Microchip tried to keep talking even after a lawyer’s objection, leading Judge Ann Donnelly to lightly tell him, “stay in your lane.”
He testified about participating in group chats with names like “War Room,” and “Fed Free Hate.”
“I was in many group [direct messages],” he said.
“We crafted memes, and one of those memes we crafted dealt with voting the wrong way.” Their intent, he said, was to “defraud voters of their right to vote.”
“The hope would be that Hillary Clinton voters would see this and then vote incorrectly,” Microchip testified.
One image posted by Microchip on Election Day showed a photoshopped picture of comedian Aziz Ansari holding up a sign reading “Save time, avoid the line, vote from home.”
Mackey was active in group chats, Microchip said. “He was very well-respected back then, and he still is . ... I would say that he’s a leader of sorts. He had good ideas for the strategy for creating memes.”
Microchip said he built his Twitter following — 134,000 users for one account, and tens of thousands for others — by using automated “bot” services, then let human nature do the rest.
“If you see somebody followed by a lot of people, they might have something interesting to say,” he remarked.