MARICOPA COUNTY, Arizona — An infamous online fake news writer who claimed credit for getting Donald Trump elected president was found dead in his bed earlier this month, according to the New York Post.
Paul Horner, who made outlandish claims about President Barack Obama opening a Muslim museum and Bill Murray was considering a run for president in articles that were later debunked, was found unresponsive in his bed on September 19. The Maricopa County medical examiner said there were no signs of foul play, and that there was evidence the death could have been caused by an accidental overdose.
During the 2016 presidential election, Horner created a list of websites to spread false information. The sites appeared to be legitimate news sites.
In one article, Horner claimed protesters that disrupted Donald Trump rallies were paid $3,500. The post went viral on the Internet and fueled endless conspiracy theories. Trump repeated the charges, despite the fact that no evidence existed.
Horner told the Washington Post last November that although the information was clearly fabricated, he made thousands of dollars each month from them because Trump’s supporters were “easy to fool.”
In the same interview, Horner said he thought Trump won the White House because of him.
“His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything,” Horner told the paper about Trump.
In another post that went viral, Horner claimed to be a Secret Service agent who penned a book revealing Obama was a gay Muslim.
The Associated Press later fact-checked the article and cited a Secret Service spokesman as saying records dating back to 1990 reveal no agent named Paul Horner.
