A QAnon influencer who has accused prominent Democrats of pedophilia was himself convicted of pedophilia. He was confronted with his past in a new HBO documentary.
David Todeschini, 70, appears in journalist and YouTuber Andrew Callaghan’s directorial debut, This Place Rules. The film, which premiered on HBO on December 30, “explores the undercurrents that led to the January 6 Capitol Riot,” and features interviews from 2020 with people deeply enmeshed in far-right conspiracy theories.
In a clip from the doc that has made its way onto social media, Todeschini, who posts on social media under the name “David Trent” and reportedly attended the rally prior to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, asserts with no evidence that Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, and President Joe Biden are all pedophiles. The QAnon conspiracy theory states that there is a secret, international cabal of satanic child molesters controlling the world that is run by top Democrats and Hollywood personalities.
Callaghan then confronts Todeschini with his own 1999 conviction of one count each of sexual abuse in the first degree and sodomy in the second degree for coercing an eight-year-old boy in New Jersey into sexual activity in 1996.
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Check out this clip from Andrew Callaghan’s new HBO doc “This Place Rules".
This is Dave…
pic.twitter.com/zSjhhQ3t4E— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) January 2, 2023
Right Wing Watch, a project of People For the American Way that monitors and exposes the activities of radical right political organizations, first reported on Todeschini’s conviction in 2021. Todeschini reportedly served five years in state prison and is considered a level three threat, according to New York sex offender registry. He is considered a “sexually violent offender” and is at “high risk of repeat offense and a threat to public safety.”
Following the RWW report, Todeschini told Vice News in 2021 that his conviction was a deep state plot and that he “did what General [Michael] Flynn did.”
“He pled guilty to a crime that he didn’t commit,” Todeschini said of the former national security adviser.
Todeschini repeats the Flynn comparison in This Place Rules, insisting that he is “not projecting” his own crimes onto others.
