A Texas assistant attorney general is a QAnon conspiracy theorist who tweets out violent threats and bigoted remarks
UPDATE: Nick Moutos has been fired following Media Matters' article
Written by Eric Hananoki
Research contributions from Kaila Philo
Published
Updated
Update (9/3/20): The Texas Tribune reported that “Moutos lost his job as a Texas assistant attorney general Thursday after Media Matters reported” on his toxic Twitter commentary.
Texas Assistant Attorney General Nick Moutos is a QAnon supporter who has used his Twitter account to tweet violent threats at people and encourage followers to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters. He’s also complained that places are “overrun” with Muslims, said that Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) should be sent to Guantanamo, and promoted bigotry against LGBTQ people.
Moutos is a lawyer and an assistant attorney general in the criminal prosecutions division of the Texas Office of the Attorney General, where he has been working since April 2017. (Moutos is currently listed as working with the attorney general's office on his Facebook page and the State Bar of Texas' website; he also represented Texas in a July court filing.) He ran as a Republican this year in Texas’ 35th Congressional District but lost in the primary.
QAnon is a violence-linked conspiracy theory based on cryptic posts to online message boards from an anonymous user known as “Q" that have spread rampantly on social media and among fringe right-wing media. QAnon conspiracy theorists essentially believe that President Donald Trump is secretly working to take down the purported “deep state,” a supposed cabal of satanic high-ranking officials who they claim are operating pedophile rings. The FBI has labeled the conspiracy theory a potential domestic terror threat.
Media Matters previously documented Moutos’ support for QAnon in a piece about current and former congressional candidates who support the conspiracy theory:
In response to Twitter’s announcement that it would take action against the spread of QAnon on the platform, Moutos tweeted, “#Q must be getting close to #OutingYou as a #Pedophile or #ChildTrafficker or perhaps involved with #PizzaGate.” He has also retweeted content explicitly supporting QAnon, including a video of another congressional candidate taking an oath supporting QAnon.
Moutos is also a proponent of the violence-linked Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which preceded QAnon and has elements that overlap with it. Supporters of that conspiracy theory -- including numerous fringe right-wing media figures and conspiracy theorists -- claim that prominent Democrats have been trafficking children through a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant.
Moutos, who believes that the country is in the middle of the second Civil War, has frequently tweeted violent threats at people on his account.
He’s told President Barack Obama, “I pray to meet you on the #CivilWar2 #Battlefield”; called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) a “whore of Babylon” who has poked “the bear too many times. … #NoWarningShots So beware #IncestuousJihadiTerrorist, #WeAreReady #2A #MolonLabe [come and take them]”; tweeted the hashtags “ArmedAndReadyVeteran,” “NoWarningShots,” and “CenterMassUntilThreatDrops” at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY); and tweeted the hashtags “AimCenterMass” and “NoWarningShots” to CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta. (Moutos’ mentions of “center mass” are apparent references to the advice to shoot someone in the center of their body.)
He’s also responded to Black Lives Matter protesters, whom he has called terrorists, by encouraging violence against them. When St. Louis, Missouri, couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey pointed weapons at protesters, Moutos wrote that if those protesters “came to my neighborhood” it would have been “open season on terrorists” and also said that “the prior #Deadly #Violent #Destructive act committed by #BLMTrrorists #AntifaTerrorists #Rioters #Looters is #PROVOCATION enough to warrant the ‘display of lethal force.’” He’s also tweeted: “Why is everyone #Blond to the fact #BLM #Antifa #Soros #Globalists #Technocrats #Democrats have fired actual #Shots & initiated #CivilWar2!? #FightBackForAmerica Now! #2A #MolonLabe #AimCenterMass #NoWarningShots.’”
Moutos is virulently anti-Muslim. He has claimed that Islam is a “virus” and that it “seeks only to steel, kill, and destroy”; tweeted that the United Kingdom and Scottsdale, Arizona, are “overrun with Muslims”; complained that Muslims are being “welcomed” into the country; and wrote of Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib: “These two #Jihadis belong in #Gitmo, not #Congress. #Treason #Sedition #Terrorists.”
He is an anti-LGBTQ bigot who has tweeted that promoting LGBTQ ideals is “normalizing perversion,” claimed that “‘trans people’ are an abomination and have a mental disorder,” and said that “Americans should use” the American Civil Liberties Union “for target practice” because the organization supports transgender rights.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Texas' Office of the Attorney General wrote: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We’re looking into the matter and will address it as appropriate.” The spokesperson did not respond to a question attempting to confirm that Moutos is currently working as an assistant attorney general.
Moutos is another example of how toxic right-wing media conspiracy theories and rhetoric have overrun the right, including people in law enforcement roles
Here are some of Nick Moutos’ worst tweets.