Elizabeth M. Crokin (born February 8, 1979) is an American

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

and

conspiracy theorist A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

. Since 2017, she has been an outspoken supporter of

QAnon QAnon ( ) is a far-right conspiracy theories in United States politics, American political conspiracy theory and political movement that originated in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals kno ...

conspiracy theories.

Early life and education

Crokin was born on February 8, 1979. She grew up in

Glenview, Illinois Glenview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop. Per the 2020 census, the population was 48,705. The Village of Glenview is governed by New Trier and Northfield townships. According ...

, and graduated from

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school whose main campus for sophomores through seniors is in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, with a campus in Northfield, Illinois, for ...

. She attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

studying political science and journalism. While there, she was an organizer for Students for Bush, an organization supporting the

George W. Bush 2000 presidential campaign The 2000 presidential campaign of George W. Bush, the then-governor of Texas, was formally launched on June 14, 1999, as Governor Bush, the eldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, announced his intention to seek the Republican Part ...

. She later

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

ed at the

U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

during Bush's first term and for conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly's show ''

The O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...

'' on

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Career

Crokin began working in 2002 for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'', before moving to their ''

RedEye ''RedEye'' was a publication put out by the ''Chicago Tribune'' geared toward 18 to 34-year-olds. It was published every weekday since its inception in 2002 until February 3, 2017. Publication was reduced to weekly starting February 9, 2017. ...

'' daily tabloid writing a column called "Liz in the Loop" (previously "Eye Contact") which covered celebrity news in the Chicago area. In 2010, Crokin moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and began working as a freelance entertainment reporter for ''

National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays Source (journalism), sources for tips (chec ...

'', ''

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

'', ''

In Touch Weekly ''In Touch Weekly'' is an American celebrity gossip magazine. The magazine is focused on celebrity news, fashion, beauty, relationships and lifestyle, and is geared towards a younger readership, billing itself as "fast and fun", along with maki ...

'', ''

US Weekly ''Us Weekly'' is an American weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. ''Us Weekly'' was founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, which sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, and sold to Ameri ...

'' where she focused on celebrity

breakup A relationship breakup, breakup, or break-up is the ending of a Interpersonal relationship, relationship. The act is commonly termed "dumping omeone in slang when it is initiated by one partner. The term is less likely to be applied to a ma ...

s. Crokin returned to Chicago in 2012 to work for lifestyle magazine ''Splash'', a ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' publication at the time, writing a column called "LA LA Liz". In September 2012, Crokin developed a viral form of

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

which progressed into

meningoencephalitis Meningoencephalitis (; from ; ; and the medical suffix ''-itis'', "inflammation"), also known as herpes meningoencephalitis, is a medical condition that simultaneously resembles both meningitis, which is an infection or inflammation of the mening ...

and caused daily

migraine Migraine (, ) is a complex neurological disorder characterized by episodes of moderate-to-severe headache, most often unilateral and generally associated with nausea, and light and sound sensitivity. Other characterizing symptoms may includ ...

vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

, and

photophobia Photophobia is a medical symptom of abnormal intolerance to visual perception of light. As a medical symptom, photophobia is not a morbid fear or phobia, but an experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure or by presence o ...

resulting from brain damage. Her health problems resulted in a loss of work, including being laid off in 2013 by American Media Inc., parent company of ''Star'' and ''National Enquirer''. Crokin and others had previously accused AMI content officer

Dylan Howard Dylan Howard (born 19 January 1982) is an entertainment journalist and media executive. He is best known for his work as editor-in-chief of the '' National Enquirer'' tabloid between 2014 and 2020, a period in which he oversaw a number of scan ...

of sexual harassment, and has suggested that the layoffs were done in retaliation. Crokin's column in ''Splash'' ended in February 2014. In 2015, Crokin resumed her career as a columnist by writing for ''

Townhall Townhall is an American conservative website, print magazine and radio news service. Katie Pavlich is Editor. Previously published by The Heritage Foundation, it is now owned and operated by Salem Communications. The website features more than ...

''. Though her columns for that magazine focused mostly on sex crimes, in 2016 she published a paper titled ''Trump Does the Unthinkable'', which listed good deeds attributed to then-presidential candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. That column became very popular on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

among Trump supporters. Also in 2015, Crokin self-published a semi-autobiographical novel, ''Malice''. The book contained a thinly veiled portrayal of her relationship with a man whom she sued for allegedly exposing her to

herpes Herpes simplex, often known simply as herpes, is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus. Herpes infections are categorized by the area of the body that is infected. The two major types of herpes are oral herpes and genital herp ...

. Crokin's ex-boyfriend countersued her for his fictionalized portrayal in the novel. The matter was partially settled in 2018.

Conspiracy theories

Crokin first became an adherent of the

Pizzagate "Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle, falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democra ...

investigation after the release of emails from White House official John Podesta. Crokin continues to believe Pizzagate is true, as of 2020. She then became a follower of

, another conspiracy theory whose wider scope includes that liberals and elites are running worldwide child sex-trafficking rings whom

is secretly fighting. The QAnon source making "intel drops" on imageboards

4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...

and

8chan 8kun, previously called 8chan, Infinitechan or Infinitychan (stylized as ∞chan), is an imageboard website composed of user-created message boards. An owner moderates each board, with minimal interaction from site administration. The site ...

, Crokin believed, was Trump himself or Stephen Miller. According to Crokin, she "immediately knew

Anon Anon may refer to: Arts and media * ''Anon'' (album), a 2018 album by Hands Like Houses * Anon (band) * ''Anon'' (film), a 2018 British science fiction thriller film People with the given name * Anon Amornlerdsak (born 1997), a Thai footb ...

was legit" upon discovering the first "drop". She went on to become one of QAnon's most prominent "

influencer A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

s". Crokin shares the QAnon beliefs that the

Mueller investigation The Robert Mueller special counsel investigation was an investigation into 45th U.S. president Donald Trump regarding Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections and was conducted by special prosecutor Robert Mueller from May 20 ...

was a cover for a pedophile investigation and that the cabal of child abusers will ultimately be defeated and its members arrested ''en masse'' in an event known as "the Storm". In 2017, future congresswoman

Marjorie Taylor Greene Marjorie Taylor Greene ( Taylor; born May 27, 1974), sometimes referred to by her initials MTG, is an American far-rightSources describing Greene as "far-right" include: * * * * * * * * * * * politician, businesswoman, and cons ...

credited Crokin for her discovering QAnon. At the end of December 2017, Crokin claimed on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

that photographs posted on Snapchat by

Chrissy Teigen Christine Diane Teigen (born November 30, 1985) is an American model, television personality, and author. She made her professional modeling debut in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue, in 2010, ...

, which showed the model with her one-year-old daughter, contained concealed messages suggesting Teigen was connected to Pizzagate. After Twitter removed her verification, Crokin went on to contend that Teigen might be under the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

Project MKUltra MKUltra was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used during interrogations to weaken individuals and force confes ...

mind control program (long since scrapped). Other people possibly under MKUltra, according to Crokin, include

Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinstein (, ; born March 19, 1952) is an American film producer and convicted sex offender. In 1979, Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent ...

and

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman best known as the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and clou ...

. She featured in ''Out of Shadows'', a documentary uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in April 2020. For her,

Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( , ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American financier and child sex offender. Born and raised in New York City, Epstein began his professional career as a teacher at the Dalton School, despite lacking a col ...

and the

NXIVM NXIVM ( ) was a cult led by Keith Raniere, who is now a convicted Racketeering, racketeer and sex offender. NXIVM is also the name of the defunct company that Raniere founded in 1998, which provided seminars ostensibly about human potential an ...

scandal demonstrated the continuing validity of Pizzagate. Crokin was the original source for

Roseanne Barr Roseanne Cherrie Barr (born November 3, 1952), also known mononymously as Roseanne, is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom ''Roseanne'' (19 ...

's deleted tweet in March 2018 claiming President

had released hundreds of children from bondage each month. Crokin had used fake figures in a 2017 blog post for the conservative ''Townhall'' website entitled "Why the MSM Is Ignoring Trump's Sex Trafficking Busts" claiming a "staggering 1,500-plus arrests" of involved individuals in the first 30 days of Trump's presidency. Another thesis she has spread is that

John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American socialite, attorney, magazine publisher, and journalist. He was a son of 35th United States president John F. K ...

did not die in a 1999 plane crash, but faked his death, and is behind QAnon. According to ''

Right Wing Watch People for the American Way (PFAW ) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear, a self-described liberal who founde ...

'', she predicted in March 2018 that the conspiracy theories suggesting "thousands of high-level political, business and entertainment figures are involved in cannibalistic satanic pedophilia" would be proven as true before President Trump leaves office. In February 2019, Crokin expressed disappointment that Trump had not yet conducted the "mass arrests" of the child sex ring members as promised by Q, and worried that Trump might lose support if he waited too long. She added that she was in favor of

citizen's arrest A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – a person who is not acting as a sworn Police officer, law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in wh ...

s against John Podesta and other people, and warned that people might lose patience and take the street to conduct "vigilante justice". During the early months of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, she relayed the #FilmYourHospital

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

, as an attempt to prove that the pandemic was a "lie" engineered by the "

cabal A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state (polity), state, or another community, often by Wiktionary:intrigue, intrigue and usually without the kn ...

" and China. Crokin was eventually

banned A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...

by all mainstream

platforms for her misinformation campaigns. Her ban from Twitter was lifted on January 6, 2023. On December 6, 2022, Crokin appeared at a fundraising event hosted by former US President

at his house

Mar-a-Lago Mar-a-Lago ( , ) is a resort and National Historic Landmark on a barrier island in Palm Beach, Florida, United States. It spans 126 rooms and built on of land. Since 1985, it has been owned by Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of t ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crokin, Liz 1979 births Living people American conspiracy theorists People from Glenview, Illinois Journalists from Illinois American women television journalists 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists New Trier High School alumni University of Iowa alumni