C'est Moi: Romney's Anonymous Twitter Account Unmasked

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was verified as the owner of the anonymous Twitter account @qaws0876 -- better known as "Pierre Delecto." The account served as Romney’s anonymous eyes on social media for over 10 years.

The account was first unmasked by Slate’s senior writer, Ashley Feinberg. The discovery of Romney’s secret Twitter account is not Feinberg’s first exploration. In 2017, she was also behind the finding of former FBI Director James Comey's secret social media account. Romney confirmed his ownership of the account during a conversation with The Atlantic's McKay Coppins, who was in charge of penning a profile on him.

The anonymous Twitter account was discovered by Feinberg through a probe of the Twitter accounts of a few of Romney's relatives -- which led to his eldest grandchild, Allie Romney Critchlow’s, Twitter account. It had a mere 481 followers, and the brief investigation quickly led to @qaws0876.

Prior to its unraveling, not only was the account public, it was also followed by the entire Romney family, several Romney campaigns, and also matched the description Romney had mentioned to The Atlantic. Feinberg was able to further speculate Romney’s ownership of the account through not only the slight bias that was evident in its following, but also because the account’s Twitter activity undeniably matched Romney’s perspective perfectly. Most importantly, the account was evidently supporting Mitt Romney, and criticizing President Donald Trump’s at once.

The Atlantic published a scope on Romney highlighting his position against Trump’s recent actions involving Ukraine, which pushed the House Democrats to begin an impeachment inquiry against the President. Romney has been vocal about the divide of perspectives within the party since Trump assumed the presidency.

Romney’s stance against Trump has been no secret, and the Senator and the President have publicly displayed their disapproval of each other -- often calling each other out on social media. In 2016, Romney singled out Trump for not being transparent with his taxes and requesting the sharing of his back taxes, following the tweet with the hashtag #WhatIsHeHiding.

Romney’s alias often liked tweets that were critical of President Trump's decision making, including one tweet that approved using the 25th Amendment in reaction to the President's recent actions involving Turkey and Syria. However, the account was not just critical of Trump, but politics as a whole.

Tweets that contained criticism of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton were also among those it liked. The account was not a shy commentator either, actively tweeting frequent replies to those who publicly criticized Sen. Romney.

When revealing his ownership, Romney told Coppins, "C'est moi.” Translated from French meaning, I myself am the nation.