On 7 April 2022, Ruben Verastigui, 29, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 151 months in prison on a federal charge of receipt of child pornography.
According to the government’s evidence, from April 2020 through February 2021, Verastigui was active in an online group devoted to trading child pornography and discussing child sexual abuse. Verastigui shared child pornography videos with another member of the group and made numerous comments about sexually abusing children. Verastigui indicated his preference for babies, saying they were his “absolute favorite,” and solicited another group member for videos of babies being raped. The other group member promptly sent Verastigui a video of a baby being raped, to which Verastigui responded enthusiastically. The other group member then sent Verastigui numerous other videos of child pornography.
Verastigui was arrested on Feb. 5, 2021. He has been in custody ever since.
Verastigui first came to public attention speaking at the National March for Life in 2013.
As Law and Crime would later report, Verastigui said that day: "I truly believe that we are the chosen generation, and we will abolish abortion and change history."
After he was arrested in 2021:
Prosecutors alleged at a pretrial detention hearing that Verastigui discussed “in great deal how much he enjoyed seeing children getting raped and killed.”
After his 2013 speech, Verastigui had a rapid rise in Republican circles.
Verastigui was a digital strategist for the RNC in 2017 and 2018, worked as digital director for the Joint Economic Committee in 2018 and as digital strategist for the Senate Republican Conference from 2019 to 2020. He also designed social media ads for Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.
On social media, Verastigui enjoyed bragging about his access to the Trump White House. Meanwhile he was telling his online child porn group:
“I can’t stop thinking about touching, raping, and killing a newborn baby, been hard all morning.”
During his time working for the Republican National Committee, Verastigui took the official headshot of RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, the niece of former GOP standard-bearer Mitt Romney.
After the 2020 election, but before his arrest, Verastigui tweeted his delight that McDaniel was "still using the headshot I took of her" for media appearances on conspiracy-mongering Fox shows like Lou Dobbs Tonight on Fox Business.
McDaniel is still using the same photo today.
Imagine if, at any point in your life, you had worked with a person who was arrested—and convicted—for the kind of crimes Ruben Verastigui committed.
Wouldn't you want to at least denounce that person—and distance yourself from that association wherever possible?
Imagine if you, as the leader of an organization that professes a commitment to protecting babies and children from predators and "groomers," discovered that one of your most trusted employees had actively been seeking out videos of sex with infants and children up to 12 year olds. That he had told his online buddies: “I can’t stop thinking about touching, raping, and killing a newborn baby, been hard all morning.”
Wouldn't you insist that the official photograph that the pedophile in question had taken of you be removed from your organization's website and, ideally, scrubbed from the internet wherever possible?
Why hasn't that happened?
Verastigui was arrested on 5 February 2021.
Versatigui was convicted on 7 April 2022.
29 months after Verastigui's arrest—as I write this on 5 July 2023—Ronna Romney McDaniel is still displaying the photo he took of her on the RNC website.
It's not an oversight. It's a choice.
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