Add Patrick Byrne — the founder and former CEO of Utah-based Overstock.com — to the list of ardent supporters of President Donald Trump who have had their Twitter accounts suspended.
Looking at his account, @PatrickByrne, now brings up the message, “Account suspended, Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules.” Byrne did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Of course, Trump also had his Twitter accounts suspended. Twitter said it was “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” after rioters who believed the president’s unsubstantiated claims that he was robbed in the election stormed the U.S. Capitol last week.
Like Trump, Byrne has contended that the election was stolen from Trump — and he also had made some wild claims, and been involved in some bizarre stories about Trump.
For example, Byrne had posted a series of widely shared tweets contending that counterfeit ballots were being counted in Georgia — a claim that even GOP officials in that state said was wrong.
After the election, Byrne claimed he was funding an army of “hackers and cybersleuths” who would prove that the election results were “rigged” by Democrats to help Biden win. Courts found no credible evidence that vote totals had been changed or manipulated.
Two weeks ago Byrne tweeted out a theory that a Christmas Day suicide bombing in Nashville actually was a “missile strike” designed to take out a “spy hub” used by AT&T and the National Security Agency.
Three weeks ago, Byrne involved himself in a New York Times story about a heated White House meeting where Trump and others discussed strategy on how to reverse Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden.
The Times said Sidney Powell, Trump’s lawyer and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn raised the idea of seizing voting machines in several states, which evoked shouting as aides and confidants pushed back and forth.
After the story appeared, Byrne tweeted, “My involvement is I was in the room when it happened. The raised voices included my own. I can promise you: President Trump is being terribly served by his advisers. They want him to lose and are lying to him. He is surrounding by mendacious mediocrities.”
To prove he was in the meeting, Byrne tweeted several pictures of himself inside and outside of the White House.
A day later, Byrne tweeted criticism of several White House staffers for being insufficiently loyal to the president.
“For the first time in my life I feel sorry for Donald Trump. He is standing up to his waist in snakes. Trust Rudy [Giuliani] and Sidney [Powell] only,” Byrne tweeted.
Also last year, Byrne claimed he was involved in a romantic relationship with Maria Butina, who was convicted of being a Russian agent. He said he pursued that relationship at the behest of businessman Warren Buffet and “men in black.”
He later resigned from Overstock after his claims rattled investors.
