Mail bomb suspect made references on Facebook to Russian partners and echoed pro-Kremlin views

Facebook Twitter Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn Send to a friend Add to cart Send to a friend Add to cart Send to a friend Add to cart Send to a friend Add to favorites Add to favorites Add to favorites Add to list Add to friend Cremlin views on the Syrian civil war, with ramblings about soccer, women and U.S. politics.

Cesar Sayoc, 56, a vocal supporter of President Trump who was arrested in Florida on Friday and accused of multiple federal crimes, apparently spoke of "my Russian brothers" on several occasions on Facebook page in 2015. The meaning of the references to Russians is not clear, is not clear how Sayoc came to view and share propaganda sympathetic to Russian actions in Syria.

Facebook Deleted Leave a comment Sayoc's arrest. But The Washington Post social media researcher Jonathan Albright, who downloaded them Friday before Facebook removed the information.

Post a comment "Cesar Altieri," the first and middle names of Sayoc, and features post words, pictures and videos, along with copious news links. The posts include many selfies and other pictures featuring various locations around Florida, both alone and with what appear to be friends.

Similar themes emerged in a Twitter account that appears to be a part of the world, under the name "hardrockintlent," which uses a variation on the name of a business affiliated with him, as well as his picture. Information from the account, which has been suspended by Twitter, was also obtained by Albright. Sayoc operated multiple accounts.

The "hardrockintlent" account – which lists the name "Julus Cesar Milan" as the owner – in July 2016 posted about "my brothers in of Russia the great leader Related Puttins visiting us today" at a Hard Rock Cafe in South Florida. "Puttins" appears to be a misspelled reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A person familiar with the investigation said the FBI is examining all of Sayoc's social media posts, a standard step in major investigations. Facebook and Twitter declined to comment on the relationship.

Sayoc appeared to maintain multiple Facebook accounts, which were all disabled Friday. An account with the name "Cesar Altieri Randazzo" had many personal photos of Sayoc, including videos he took of himself at Trump rally in 2016. Sayoc had more than 2,700 friends.

There is no definitive way for outsiders to verify that these accounts belong to Sayoc. But the "Cesar Altieri" Facebook page included pictures of Sayoc as far back as September 2014, which would be extremely difficult to fake. The posts also included detailed references to people in his life, email addresses and phone numbers.

Albright said of the possibility that the "Cesar Altieri" Facebook account is phony, "The chances are very, very low given how many years and how much history there is."

We're at least five times in 2015 – three times in April, and we're still looking at that. " Brooklyn's Brighton Beach, with large Russian populations.

These references to Russian associates on Facebook are repetitive, rambling and hard to understand. Before his arrest Friday, Sayoc lived in an area of ​​suburban Miami with a large Russian community, meaning the Russians described on the Facebook page has just been friends of that nationality. Elsewhere on Facebook Sayoc speaks of "my Italian Brothers."

The post on Oct. 21, 2015 included five pictures of Sayoc with different groups of people, mostly men, and the words: "Here to my Russian Brother in Moscow, Sunny Isle Bash Fla, Brighten Brook Brooklyn NY Brain, Shashana Borus, Eric Jeweler, Macaloff USSR big Red Machine Russian hockey team best in World Big John GM our nightly place 7 star food Kitchen 305 love ya all my brother 4 Strength No group better Hard Rock Sammy Enforcers, My Russian, Italian, Native, etc anyone may left out 4 life. "

A Facebook post on May 29, 2015 does not mention Russian associates but references to the country in which reads like a conspiracy theory: "Unground city Bahamas US government preparing for end fact. Tone pipe water lines going under Bahamas 900 dirty bombs disappear from Russia planted on US soil ready for end

A month later, on June 18, 2015, for the Donald Trump, who announced his candidacy for president two days earlier. "Donald Trump the nxt great president and all the native red man tribes support and Billion followers."

Miami Sports Team, Youth Soccer, Native American Themes and Businesses Sayoc was seeking to promote. But in April 2016, after several months of posting on Facebook, the account abruptly changed subjects to link to videos celebrating Syria's fight against ISIS.

"He just pops up and just relentlessly shares stories about ISIS and terrorists," said Albright. "The turn is just remarkable … He found ideas that never let go of that point on."

The posts were made with Kremlin propaganda themes, portraying Russia and Syrian government forces favorably as they were "terrorists" in which U.S. officials for years have had a claim against the authoritarian government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Many of the video links in the spurt of Facebook posts from April 2016 come from the English-language service of an Iranian state-owned broadcaster, Al-Alam. Iran has supported al-Assad in Syria's civil war, has the Russians.

President Barack Obama, who feels like to support those fighting against Assad's force. Several posts show Russian-made jets in what's portrayed as a battle against the extremist group ISIS, as opposed to the wider uprising typically described in Western accounts of the civil war.

"In a fresh round of joint combat flights, the Syrian fighter jets back to the center of the ISIS concentration centers and gatherings in the Eastern part of Aleppo province," read the caption for one of the Al-Alam videos.

Most of the posts on this subject do not include personal comments.

In September 2016, Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton was moved to their final phase, a Facebook page linked to a BBC story related to a bombing in the Chelsea section of New York City that injured 29 people.

The poster added, "Hilary Clinton worst on terrorism. Her and Obama have made America weak on the world for terror attacks. We can not afford to put Americans in the way, Obama has done. There's been so many terrorist attacks on American soil than Obama, Clinton administration. "

Andrew Ba Tran contributed to this report.