Adherents to the “QAnon” conspiracy theory and former “Pizzagate” truthers who have alleged that President Trump is secretly working behind the scenes to dismantle a global network of satanic child sex traffickers believe a new press release from the Department of Justice has validated their wild conspiracy theories.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice issued a press release announcing the arrest of more than 2,300 “suspected online child sex offenders.” The DOJ statement reads:

The Department of Justice today announced the arrest of more than 2,300 suspected online child sex offenders during a three-month, nationwide, operation conducted by Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. The task forces identified 195 offenders who either produced child pornography or committed child sexual abuse, and 383 children who suffered recent, ongoing, or historical sexual abuse or production of child pornography. […] The operation targeted suspects who: (1) produce, distribute, receive and possess child pornography; (2) engage in online enticement of children for sexual purposes; (3) engage in the sex trafficking of children; and (4) travel across state lines or to foreign countries and sexually abuse children.

The announcement was seen as validation by conspiracy theorists who have long-since obsessed over their belief that members of the political, media and corporate elite are part of an international network of pedophiles and that the Trump administration would soon be putting those figures in jail.

On The Goldwater, a news site built specifically for 8Chan users, an author named “Red Pill” wrote an article thanking “AG Jeff Sessions, the ICAC Task Force, and all agencies involved in the process of making America safe again.” The Twitter account for “An Open Secret,” which is a film about “Hollywood pedophiles & convicted sex offenders” shared the news to its followers.

Lisa Crowley, a #QAnon truther with tens of thousands of followers online, said she couldn’t wait until “all the BIG FISH in Hollywood, DC, & corporate America are finally indicted/arrested”:

For those who think it’s just a “conspiracy theory” that @realDonaldTrump‘s DOJ is dead serious about cracking down pedophiles, here’s more proof. I can’t wait ’til all the BIG FISH in Hollywood, DC, & corporate America are finally indicted/arrested. https://t.co/TDBd2Mqtuo — Lisa Mei Crowley (@LisaMei62) June 12, 2018



Conspiracy theorist David Zublick, who remains a Pizzagate activist to this day, filmed a video claiming that the DOJ release was proof that “eventually big names are going to go down, they’re going to be arrested, they’re going to be prosecuted, and they’re going to be convicted.”

“In some cases, these people may help the authorities get other individuals higher up in the food chain in regard to Pedogate, and eventually the biggest names—some of the people that we are hoping will be brought to justice—will indeed be taken down,” Zublick said.

Members of the “Great Awakening” subreddit, which is dedicated to the QAnon conspiracy theory, were ecstatic. In one thread, one user wrote, “VERY important … especially for those lazyasses who say ‘nothing is happening.’” Another posted, “It’s safe to say all these pedos are on notice and sweating bullets expecting that door to swing open for their arrests.” Referencing Jeff Sessions, another user posted, “I’ll admit I had my doubts at the start but… damn… he’s winning me over.”

Mike Cernovich, who once promoted the “Pizzagate” conspiracy, took to Periscope with a sarcastic tone, making tongue-in-cheek allegations that the DOJ website where the press release was hosted was a conspiracy theory website that needed to be shut down.

“As you can see, there’s just all these conspiracy theories about sex trafficking and pedophilia and stuff and there’s this site called ‘Justice.gov.’ I’d never heard of it before. I’m not really sure what this new conspiracy theory—it needs to be shut down, obviously,” Cernovich said.

Former “Pizzagate” figure Jack Posobiec, who has been trying to rewrite his role in the history of the phenomena, took a similar tone and asked if CNN will add the Justice Department “to their list of purveyors of fake news sites.”