Twitter troll’s election interference trial delayed after alleged witness intimidation
Kaelan Deese
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Douglass Mackey, a right-wing online troll facing criminal charges for alleged 2016 election interference, had his trial delayed after his attorney alleged an anti-hate group intimated a witness into withdrawing his testimony.
Mackey is known by his Major League-referencing handle “Ricky Vaughn” and gained notoriety when he was charged for making a viral tweet instructing users to cast ballots for the presidential election via text message, which is not possible.
PRO-TRUMP TWITTER TROLL CHARGED WITH SPREADING VOTER DISINFORMATION IN 2016 ELECTION
Mackey’s trial was meant to commence on March 16 but was delayed at his counsel’s request due to a planned Southern Poverty Law Center article on the defense’s would-be expert witness, George Hawley, an associate professor of political science from the University of Alabama.
The SPLC is a civil rights watchdog monitoring alleged extremism but has also drawn the ire of some right-wing critics who say the group labels certain Christian and conservative organizations as “hate groups.” The group most recently garnered headlines when an SPLC attorney was charged with domestic terrorism following a mob attack on Atlanta’s “Cop City” training facility.
While the article by freelance journalist Luke O’Brien has yet to be published, Mackey’s attorney, Andrew Frisch, claimed it “unfairly disparages” Hawley and is partially based on the professor’s “private emails.”
“Mr. O’Brien waited until the start of trial to submit written questions to Professor Hawley in an apparent attempt to paint him as an extremist, including questions based on private emails which Mr. O’Brien obtained, simultaneously asking Professor Hawley if his employer, the University of Alabama, is aware of his proffered testimony at Mr. Mackey’s trial,” Frisch wrote in a letter requesting to delay the trial by at least 14 days.
In response to the unpublished SPLC report, Frisch told U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis that Hawley has requested to withdraw his name as a witness.
“For these reasons, I have no choice but to request a short adjournment of trial so that I may endeavor to identify a replacement expert witness,” Frisch wrote.
Mackey, who also used his social media platform to push racist and antisemitic tropes to his tens of thousands of Twitter followers before being banned, was arrested in January 2021 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and charged in New York.
The Justice Department didn’t specifically name which candidate Mackey was trying to harm, but his account was well known for its pro-Donald Trump, anti-Hillary Clinton bent and for pushing conspiracy theories such as “PizzaGate.” Prosecutors allege he spread false memes on Twitter encouraging Clinton supporters to vote by text and posting a specific number to message to cast the vote.
Part of the complaint pointed to a previous tweet from his account, in which he sent a message on Twitter saying, “The key is to drive up turnout with non-college whites, and limit black turnout.”
As a result of the alleged misinformation campaign, prosecutors argued at least 4,900 unique phone numbers texted the fake number in an effort to vote for the Democratic candidate in 2016.
Released on a $50,000 bond in January 2021, Mackey faces an atypical charge of conspiracy to violate rights, which makes it illegal to conspire to “oppress” or “intimidate” anyone from exercising a constitutional right. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Mackey has garnered support from the likes of Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who agreed with another user’s post that his charges for the vote-by-text joke are “concerning.”
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Additionally, some online defenders of Mackey have pointed to a separate tweet by Twitter user Kristina Wong, who made a similar joke post telling Trump supporters to text their vote but was never charged.
The judge presiding over the case granted a tentative adjournment of opening statements until Monday, March 20.