The saga of Pizzagate is seeing a new twist, as a man has pleaded guilty to calling in a threat to a pizzeria not far where the original fake-news controversy started. Pizzagate began in December when gunman Edgar Welch began shooting in Washington, D.C. pizzeria Comet Ping Pong — because he was inspired by a fake conspiracy that claimed Hillary Clinton ran a child sex ring out of the restaurant. The outrageousness continued from there with Donald Trump’s chosen national security adviser, Michael Flynn, retweeting and deleting the story.
Now, authorities have diverted more potential Pizzagate violence. Yusif Lee Jones reportedly called the Besta Pizza Shop at the beginning of December with a threat. He wanted to “save the kids” and said he would “shoot everyone in the place” in order to secure their safety. Besta sits on the same block as Comet, and Jones revealed that he was a pizzagate believer, which was his motivation for the threat: “I’m coming there to finish what the other guy didn’t. I’m coming there to save the kids, Yes I heard of [pizzagate]. It’s on the internet … I do believe it.”
Only three days earlier, the Comet Pizza shooting rocked the neighborhood. Businesses in the area have received plenty of harassment against employees and their families. Welch is looking at up to 10 years in prison, but Jones’ punishment is still up in the air.
(Via NBC 4 Washington & Talking Points Memo)