The Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) Vice Chair, Brianna Westbrook, signaled support for gun violence following the Nashville, Tennessee school shooting last Monday.
Westbrook indicated support in a call for violence against “transphobes” on Monday following the Nashville, Tennessee school shooting. Westbrook liked a tweet from Gov. Katie Hobbs’ now-resigned press secretary Josselyn Berry.
Berry had tweeted a GIF of a woman walking forward with two guns raised with the caption, “Us when we see transphobes.”
#BREAKING@BWestbrookAZ8 liked the tweet from Katie Hobbs’ press secretary threatening to kill “transphobes.”
Brianna is the vice chair for the @azdemparty and is running for state house in #LD5.
This wasn’t the first incitement to violence from Westbrook. Following the summer of Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots, Westbrook concurred with fellow activist — Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona board member Chris Love — that blue alerts shouldn’t exist. Blue alerts are issued when a suspect poses an imminent or credible threat to law enforcement, or an officer is missing.
Westbrook’s response to the Nashville school shooting isn’t unique among trans activists. In the aftermath of the tragedy, other transgender activists have issued public responses ranging from apathy to celebration. Three children and three faculty were killed by the shooter, a woman who sometimes identified as a transgender man.
Twitter user Thomas Mix wrote that he hopes it was Republicans who were killed at the Christian school shooting in #Nashville. Three of the murdered were young children. pic.twitter.com/eRXWiTseo9
Other transgender activists have appeared to call for more bloodshed.
After the mass shooting at the Nashville Christian school by a #trans assailant, leftist trans porn model "Tiffany Starr" appears to call for more terrorist attacks. She uses the hashtag "TransTerrorism" along with an image of a game character showing off an arsenal of deadly… pic.twitter.com/AZsuna8qXc
Radical #trans activist group, the Trans Resistance Network, has released a statement mourning the death of the #Nashville Christian school mass shooter. The statement says there were two tragedies, the murder of the children & school staff, & also that… pic.twitter.com/XkbEeqfb7j
The shooting occurred days before a planned “Trans Day of Vengeance,” scheduled to occur on April Fool’s Day. The event was planned by the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN); a day after the shooting, the group issued a statement that it would continue the event as planned. However, the group canceled the event on Friday, citing a “credible threat” of violence.
The organization, who subsequently made their Twitter account private following backlash on the event and their remarks, indicated that the shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, was a victim as well. TRAN erroneously referred to Hale as “Aubrey.”
“Hate has consequences,” wrote TRAN.
The 'Trans Resistance Network' has released a statement that Audrey Hale is the real victim in the Christian school shooting pic.twitter.com/qNrsTpiM8B
Twitter users who shared images of the poster, even with the attempt to raise awareness or issue a warning, had their accounts suspended. This included the accounts of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, who quoted the Bible in response to the threats of violence.
This is a lie.
My Congressional account was suspended for 7 days for exposing Antifa, who are organizing a call for violence called “Trans Day of Vengeance.”
The day after the mass murder of children by a trans shooter.
There’s a Trans Day of Vengeance planned for April 1st, and members of congress are screaming in the halls about the 2nd Amendment. You don’t want to miss this. Tune in right now: https://t.co/kTKLsNdJlQpic.twitter.com/VlEwJF4PZI
Gov. Katie Hobbs’ spokeswoman issued a general death threat to “transphobes” hours after the school shooting in Nashville. Three children and three faculty were shot and killed at a Christian private school by 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who police announced had likely identified as a transgender male named Aiden.
(Twitter removed the tweet, but it is archived here).
Hobbs’ press secretary, Josselyn Berry, has issued controversial statements before. While communications director for the Arizona State Senate Democratic Caucus in 2020, Berry quote tweeted FBI Most Wanted Terrorist Assata Shakur several days after George Floyd’s death. Shakur escaped prison after having been convicted for murdering a cop and committing armed robbery, among other crimes.
Arizona Senate Democrats also tweeted the quote on their profile, but deleted the offending tweet and issued an apology after backlash.
Berry, a graduate of Arizona State University (ASU) Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Barrett Honors College, never deleted the tweet. (Her Twitter profile is now private, but this tweet is archived here.)
In addition to controversial public statements, Berry formerly served as a principal actor in Arizona’s leftist dark money network. She served as the program manager for Arizona Wins from 2015 to 2016, and executive director for ProgressNow Arizona (now Progress Arizona) from 2016 to 2019.
Progress Arizona’s sponsor, Way to Win, launched in response to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 victory. It served as a national donor network for the primary purpose of defeating Republicans.
Way to Win spent $110 million in key states, including Arizona, to ensure Democratic victories in 2020. Its major funders include George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and family, Stryker Corporation heiress Patricia Stryker, prominent D.C. consulting firm Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty (1630) Fund, and the Tides Foundation-backed One Arizona.
Of note, Hobbs’ campaign shared the same mailing address as ProgressNow and Arizona Wins: a UPS store in Phoenix. That address has been shared over the years by several other Democratic political action committees (PACs), activist organizations, and even candidates. These groups also have ties to the political operative behind at least 50 political action committees or candidate campaigns over the last five years.
That operative, Dacey Montoya, had the email for her consulting firm, The Money Wheel, listed as a contact for Hobbs’ secretary of state and gubernatorial campaigns, and received about $188,500 over the past four years. Montoya’s PAC received $37 million from fallen crypto giant FTX leader Sam Bankman-Fried, as well as over $1 million from committees for Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Governor Katie Hobbs.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
