====== PizzaGate ======

**PizzaGate** is the term used to describe a theory alleging that high ranking [[Democratic Party]] officials were affiliated with a [[human trafficking]] and child sex ring, purportedly run out of restaurants and retail businesses in the [[united_states:Washington, D.C.]] area of the [[United States]]. 

It is widely labelled a [[conspiracy theory]].((Fuhrmeister, C. (2016, November 7). //Internet Crazies Think This DC Pizzeria Is the Center of a Clinton Sex Ring.// Eater. http://archive.today/2016.11.10-153936/http://www.eater.com/2016/11/7/13553878/comet-ping-pong-conspiracy-theory)) It received large-scale attention during the [[2016 Presidential Election]] and a subsequent shooting at [[Comet Ping Pong]] pizzeria.((Lopez, G. (2016, December 5). //Pizzagate, the fake news conspiracy theory that led a gunman to DC’s Comet Ping Pong, explained.// Vox. http://archive.today/2021.12.29-160433/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/5/13842258/pizzagate-comet-ping-pong-fake-news)) 

===== History =====

==== E-mail dump ====

In November 2016, [[WikiLeaks]] published emails belonging to [[Hillary Clinton]]'s campaign chair, [[John Podesta]].((Nast, C. (2016, November 3). //All the Juiciest Dirt in The Podesta E-mails, Explained.// Vanity Fair. https://web.archive.org/web/20221112045736/https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/wikileaks-podesta-emails-explained)) Anonymous internet users, sometimes referred to as [[Anonymous]], identified references to "pizza" that they considered as euphemisms for illicit activities.((//Did you leave a handkerchief.// (2016, November). WikiLeaks. https://web.archive.org/web/20161104101145/https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/32795)) ((dcpizzagate. (2020, October 27). //DC PizzaGate: A Primer.// Suspected Pedophile Ring Exposed. https://archive.ph/439mB))