A Trump political appointee at the Defense Department resigned after it was revealed he shared birther conspiracies about former President Barack Obama on social media, including a video that claimed Obama was the Antichrist.
Todd Johnson, an advance officer at the Pentagon charged with coordinating Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’ public events and appearances, offered to step down Tuesday following media inquiries into the controversial Facebook posts, according to CNN’s KFile. That offer was accepted.
Among the off-color material disseminated was a video shared in July 2012 titled, “Michelle Obama admits Barack Obama’s home country is Kenya.”
Obama released copies of a short-form “certification of live birth” in 2008 and a long-form birth certificate in 2011, showing he was born in Hawaii, in an effort to silence conspiracy theorists who questioned the place of his birth.
Another video Johnson posted during the same month alleged Obama was the Antichrist based on the so-called Bible code.
In 2015, Johnson also circulated a story joking Obama had been killed when an aircraft believed to be Air Force One crashed in rural Kentucky.
Prior to joining DOD, Johnson was Trump’s New Mexico campaign state director in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, per CNN.
Johnson has since made his Facebook account private.
