Pence set to attend event hosted by QAnon backers
WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence and top officials from President Donald Trump’s campaign are scheduled to attend a Montana fundraiser next week hosted by a couple who have expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to an invitation that was obtained by The Associated Press and a review of social media postings.
Hosts Caryn and Michael Borland have shared QAnon memes and retweeted posts from QAnon accounts, their social media activity shows. The baseless conspiracy theory posits that Trump is fighting entrenched enemies in the government and also involves satanism and child sex trafficking.
Beyond Pence, the fundraiser slated for Monday in Bozeman, Montana, is expected to draw influential figures in the president’s orbit, including Kimberly
Guilfoyle, a top Trump fundraising official who is dating Donald Trump Jr., GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Republican National Committee finance chairman Todd Ricketts and RNC co-chairman Tommy Hicks Jr., the event invitation shows.
Representatives for Pence declined to comment on the fundraiser, though the vice president has previously called QAnon a “conspiracy theory.”
Representatives for the Trump campaign didn’t immediately comment on the fundraiser. Caryn and Michael Borland did not return a call seeking comment on the event. The couple has donated over $220,000 to Trump’s reelection, the bulk of which was made in Caryn Borland’s name.
QAnon is a wide-ranging conspiracy fiction spread largely through the internet, centered on the baseless belief that Trump is waging a secret campaign against enemies in the “deep state” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals. It is based on cryptic postings by the anonymous “Q,” purportedly a government insider.
The story has grown to include other long-standing conspiracy theories. The movement is often likened to a right-wing cult; some followers have run for office, primarily in the Republican Party, though some have been independent or run as third-party candidates. Trump has refused to say QAnon is false.