The Associated Press has uncovered the identity of a fringe figure on Twitter/X who pushed the baseless conspiracy theory that ABC News helped Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of her debate against former President Donald Trump, and he has been misrepresenting himself in more ways than one.

The AP’s Brian Slodysko published a deep dive Friday into the true identity behind so-called “Black Insurrectionist,” a Twitter/X user who helped push the fake story that was shared or promoted by several right-wing figures including billionaire Bill Ackman, Twitter/X owner Elon Musk, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Even when ABC News denied the report was true — and even despite the highly dubious nature of the “documents” that the “Black Insurrectionist” provided, the story reached a wide audience before it was debunked once and for all.

So, who is the person the AP linked to the account that used the handle “Black Insurrectionist – I FOLLOW BACK TRUE PATRIOTS” and used an avatar of a Black soldier? For one thing, he’s not Black. He’s White. His name is Jason G. Palmer, and he lives in Upstate New York. For the story, the AP reviewed “public records, open source data, and interviews with a half-dozen people who interacted closely with Palmer over the past two decades” to paint a more accurate picture of Palmer than the one he was presenting online:

The records and personal accounts offer a portrait of an individual who has repeatedly been accused of defrauding business partners and...

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