Who is Jon Cooper, the Resistance Twitter Star Accused of Spreading Disinformation?

Zachary PetrizzoOct 13th, 2020, 11:08 am
 

Screenshot via Twitter

Meet Jon Cooper. Prolific resistance tweeter by day, president of a manufacturing company, also by day.

You probably recognize Jon Cooper from Twitter, where he pumps out dubious “breaking news” and “exclusive” tweets, often based on a variety of vaguely identified sources, always at the detriment of President Donald Trump.

Cooper — who boasts a whopping 600,000 followers — found himself at the center of controversy last week after his latest fantastical post prompted a series of high profile reporters and verified Twitter users to tell their followers to block and ignore him.

The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel wrote on Twitter, “easy as 1-2-3” while attaching three pictures depicting how one could easily block Cooper on the social media platform.

Huffington Post contributor Yashar Ali tweeted, “Unfollow this lying grifter Jon Cooper. Enough.”

“Jon has no sources and makes stuff up for resistance retweets,” Ali added.

NBC News reporter Ben Collins tweeted on Saturday about Cooper, writing, “This guy regularly tweets baseless rumors and disinfo.”

Jordan Uhl poked fun at Cooper’s predictions rarely coming to life.

Cooper’s account, which has long peddled rosy predictions about the demise of the Trump administration, often bases its claims on anonymous sources. Back in 2018, Cooper claimed a “GOP source” told him Vice President Mike Pence might “be indicted in Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation.” (Nothing to the effect ever occurred.)

When he’s not speculating that the Trump administration will come to a dramatic end, he’s serving as the president of Spectronics Corporation, a New York manufacturing company that specializes in producing ultraviolet equipment.

In a phone call with Mediaite on Monday, Cooper said he stands by his more than 200,000 tweets and alleged sources as legitimate, while brushing off criticism.

“I wouldn’t quote something unless that’s exactly what I was told, so again, if I’m told something by a source that I know — I make it clear this is a source with GOP or source of the White House or campaign ties — obviously if it’s a White House source, you have to take the quote with a grain of salt, because its a White House source,” Cooper told Mediaite.

Cooper has indeed worked in politics. A former Long Island legislator, he also once served as the chairman of the Democratic Coalition, a political group that advocates against Trump. He claims to be the first politician in the state of New York to get behind Barack Obama in his bid for the White House. He made a headline on this site during his tenure at the Democratic Coalition, after he was duped by a teenage picture of actress Busy Philipps, mistook for Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

In our 45-minute conversation, Cooper said he speaks frequently with “top reporters and top news anchors” from CNN, Fox News, and Wall Street Journal, among other national news outlets. Cooper also claimed he fields calls from reporters at 2 a.m. — to speak about his sources and the news.

“They are all on my cell phone, I’m on first name basis with top reporters…I’ve gotten calls, literally at 2 o’clock in the morning from reporters asking me a question or trying to vet something or whether I’ve heard something,” Cooper said.

He declined to identify those reporters, saying they “contact me in confidence.”

Cooper conceded he is not a reporter himself, but said he believes he’s helping progressive causes. Asked if he’s helping the Biden campaign with his tweets, Cooper said, “I hope so. I believe I am, and I do the best that I can.”

“Should I not pass on information that’s given to me by a Republican with ties to the White House? I feel its incumbent upon me to pass it along, whether it’s accurate or not, I don’t know,” Cooper said.

Cooper concluded the lengthy chat by stating that he doesn’t get paid for the time he spends on Twitter, and isn’t worried about what critics have to say about him.

“People more left criticize me all the time, and it’s their right,” he said.

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