Weev would play a significant role in professionalizing the trolls who became influential in Trump’s #election

"A strange find from the Epstein files:

A hacker named Vincenzo Iozzo shares with #Epstein a rumor that Peter Thiel was "bankrolling" the neo-Nazi white supremacist hacker troll known as "weev." Conversation is about financial strategies and "currencies"

"The late David Golumbia saw weev (real name: Andrew Auernheimer) as a linchpin in Silicon Valley's turn toward fascism. He spends nearly a whole chapter on weev in "Cyberlibertarianism: The Right Wing Politics of Digital Technology."

justice.gov/epstein/files/Data

sfba.social/@skykiss/116077699…

@emptywheel.bsky.social

#midterms #elections #usa

Where did you find that quote, please!

"David Golumbia" does not seem to be in the official #EpsteinFiles.

(I did find the hacker's mail, though:

justice.gov/epstein/files/Data…)
@emptywheel.bsky.social

I wanted to link the fact that weev (Andrew Auernheimer) is connected to Peter Thiel, #Epstein, Elon, Trump family and operatives. I am attempting to recall a particular individual who frequently writes about the #Epstein files. It was their post on Bluesky that I quoted. Unfortunately, I don't have an account, which prevents me from a detailed keyword search. However, If one has an bsky account, they can perform a keyword search. You may be able to find it that way.

Do you have anymore info on weev (Andrew Auernheimer) or Vincenzo Lozzo?

@HistoPol

#EpsteinFiles

#USpol #EpsteinFiles #DonJr #Weev

(1/n)

I think I can point you in that direction:

#MarcyWheeler #EmptyWheel has documented this in her May 2024 article "#NatalieHarp: Gatekeeper to the Reich."

What #Wheeler Documents About #DonJr., #Weev, and 2016 Coordination

Wheeler explicitly states: "#DouglassMackey, #Microchip, and Don Jr collaborated to hijack mainstream news narratives together in 2016." emptywheel.net

The Chain of Operation

**#Weev →

#Mackey/#Microchip → #DonJr.'s Team**

The structure was:

👉**#AndrewAuernheimer (#weev)** — described by #Wheeler as **"a key early player in professionalizing that effort"** — trained #DouglassMackey and #Microchip starting in 2015.👈

**Mackey and Microchip** — who had been "groomed" by weev in hashtag hijacking, virality manipulation, and "psychological warfare" techniques — then **coordinated directly with Don Jr.** in a **#Trump HQ Slack** (per her citation of the campaign's own @skykiss

..."coordinat[ing] efforts").

The methodology they used: hashtag hijacking, timing tweets for maximum impact (early morning eastern time to catch the New York Times cycle), creating artificial virality, and injecting far-right narratives into mainstream discourse. emptywheel.net

Primary Documentation: Trial Exhibits

The complete chatroom logs proving all of this come from exhibits in the Douglass Mackey trial (2022), which Wheeler analyzed in her October 2023

"👉#ElonMusk's Machine for Fascism" article.👈

emptywheel.net/2023/10/04/elon…

Those chatrooms include:

Fed Free Hate Chat — where weev explicitly boasted: "i am absolutely sure we can get anyone to do or believe anything as long as we come up with the right rhetorical formula" emptywheel.net

Twitter listservs used by the troll network

Campaign Slack coordination references

*Why This Matters*

#Wheeler's May 2024 analysis shows the same network is now operating in 2024, @skykiss

Elon Musk's Machine for Fascism: A Tale of Three Elections - emptywheel

In 2016, far right trolls used Twitter's to hijack rational discussions about the election, contributing to Trump's win. In 2020, moderation and post-January 6 efforts thwarted a repeat performance, but only barely.

^emptywheel

...with #Trump campaign officials again privately coordinating with meme teams, giving them credentials, and making "specific requests for content."

#Wheeler does have documented access to the complete chatroom evidence. It's public record from the #Mackey trial, but the analytical work she did connecting them to #DonJr. and showing the 2016 coordination is in her recent archive.

emptywheel.net/2024/05/23/nata…

The key passage (May 23, @skykiss

Natalie Harp: Gatekeeper to the Reich - emptywheel

Marc Caputo describes the woman who posted the Reich meme to Trump's Truth Social account as his digital gatekeeper.

^emptywheel

...2024):

👉"What we're seeing is the #WarRoom in which #DouglassMackey, #Microchip, and #DonJr collaborated to hijack mainstream news narratives together in 2016, integrated more closely with the campaign.👈

It's not surprising #Trump did that. Even in 2016, #BakedAlaska described 👉a Trump HQ Slack that was "coordinat[ing] efforts."👈

Remember: 👉#AndrewAuernheimer, @skykiss

... better known as #Weev, and then still posting under his handle @rabite, was a key early player in professionalizing that effort,👈even as he was serving as Webmaster for the rightwing #DailyStormer."

#Wheeler also has related articles in her #DouglassMackey archive on the trial exhibits and chatroom logs themselves. You can explore those here:

emptywheel.net/tag/douglass-ma…

Notable pieces in that series include trial-based documentation of the actual chatroom coordination.

@skykiss

Douglass Mackey Archives - emptywheel

^emptywheel

@emptywheel

*#MarcyWheeler on Epstein-Thiel Connections? *

#Wheeler does NOT yet seem tohave a dedicated deep investigation of the #Thiel-#Epstein-#Weev triangle, but 👉she has flagged it strategically in her January 2026 strategic planning memo "Where We Go from Here":

"Treat Epstein as the base layer... and remember that there needs to be a direction beyond #Epstein as well, a direction which incorporates the #oligarchs who are still key players in #Trump's network 👈

... of power."

#Wheeler explicitly states:

"The #Broligarchs who've been a key part of #Trump's power are one way to do that (**and that's before we've really gotten into #SteveBannon and #PeterThiel's ties to #Epstein**)."

She does not elaborate with primary evidence in that piece, but 👉she clearly signals that Thiel's Epstein relationship is documented and waiting to be weaponized strategically—suggesting she has access to evidence but is timing its deployment.👈

@skykiss @emptywheel

* #BarrettBrown's #BylineTimes Investigation (April 14, 2026)*

This apparently is the comprehensive primary investigation you probably need. 👉#Brown provides the documented #Epstein-#Thiel-#Weev chain:👈

The #Iozzo Email (November 17, 2014)

Brown cites the exact Epstein file provided provided above:

"On 17 November 2014, the technologist #VincenzoIozzo emailed the financier #JeffreyEpstein, alerting him that a novel hedge fund strategy he and #Epstein had been

developing was already being executed by #Auernheimer aka #Weev, reportedly funded by #Thiel:

**'I've heard rumors that Thiel (who I believe you know) was bankrolling this dude ... to do similar things.'**"

Weev's Confirmation (May 2014 - Six Months Earlier)

Brown documents #Auernheimer's own statements confirming the #Thiel relationship:

"Auernheimer had effectively confirmed his relationship with Thiel six months earlier in what he believed to be a private @skykiss @emptywheel

conversation.

**'I have run a hedge fund, I am starting another one, and it is not nearly as regulated,' Weev stated, having separately 👉referenced 'a meeting with #PeterThiel's right hand this week.'**"👈

*The Network Architecture*

**#Brown then maps how weev became the operational bridge:** bylinetimes.com

"👉#Auernheimer was, in effect, a bridge. He moved between the anarchic image-board subcultures of the early internet and organised white supremacist movements.👈 He @skykiss

connected the #PayPal and #Palantir milieu around #Thiel to the alt-right he helped create and harness."

*The 2016 #Bitcoin Vote + Epstein-Thiel Alignment*

**#Brown provides a critical new piece:** #Epstein writing directly to Thiel in 2016 about political strategy:

"In 2016, #JeffreyEpstein wrote to #PeterThiel summarising what he saw as the political opportunity opened by the #Brexit vote: **👉'return to tribalism. counter to globalisation.👈 amazing new @skykiss @emptywheel

alliances.' This, he concluded, was 'just the beginning.'**"

*The #ClearviewAI Pipeline*

#Brown traces the infrastructure that weaponized the #MemeticWarfare toolkit:

"👉By 2016, #Auernheimer was writing to an associate that he was **'working on facial recognition, specifically about black people.'** In 2017, #CharlesJohnson announced on #Facebook that he was **'building algorithms to ID all the illegal immigrants for the deportation squads.'**👈

👉Thiel Connection👈

@skykiss @emptywheel

👉**#ClearviewAI– the facial recognition company that subsequently expanded the capabilities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE) – launched in 2018, seed-funded by #Thiel, operating under #Johnson's #Giesea-funded software framework #WeSearchr, and represented in legal matters by #Aurenheimer's longtime lawyer, #TorEkeland.👈**"

3. Related Byline Times Coverage

The #Brown article links to two companion pieces:

"In #Putin's Orbit: The #Crypto Politics of 👉#JeffreyEpstein
@skykiss

and #PeterThiel" (#PeterJukes) — connecting #Epstein, #Thiel, #Bannon, #Farage, and #Russian money👈

"Jeffrey Epstein's #4chan Plan" (#MattGallagher) — "The sex-trafficker's fingerprints are all over the early rise of the alt-right and the far-right conspiracy movements that would follow"

*Summary: All Three Sources Converge*

Source Finding #Epstein Email (Nov 2014)
Thiel "bankrolling" weev for regulatory arbitrage
Weev's Own Statements (May 2014)
Direct meeting with "Thiel's right @skykiss

hand"; hedge fund operations "not nearly regulated"
Wheeler (Jan 2026) Signals documented Thiel-Epstein ties are being strategically held in reserve
Brown (April 2026)Maps the complete network: Epstein → Thiel → Giesea → Weev → memetic warfare infrastructure → Clearview AI → ICE

👉The documented record shows:
#Thiel was not just acquainted with #Epstein—he was actively investing in operatives (#weev, #Giesea) who were explicitly developing tactics for influence @skykiss @emptywheel

operations that later merged into
#NATO #StratCom doctrine and #DHS infrastructure.👈

Deep link to the full investigation:

bylinetimes.com/2026/04/14/the…

//

@skykiss @emptywheel

The Neo-Nazi Enforcer Who Helped Build Peter Thiel’s Online Influence Empire – Byline Times

New Epstein-linked revelations show how neo-Nazi operative Andrew Auernheimer became a crucial link between Peter Thiel and the online far-right subcultures waging ‘memetic warfare’ against their enemies

^{Barrett Brown (Byline Times)}