One former official within the Trump administration was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of child p*rnography federal prosecutors announced in a court filing last week. Under the terms of his plea deal, Adam Hageman, a former Commerce Department official in the administration, was also sentenced to five years of parole after release and a mandatory requirement to register as a sex offender.

Hageman is definitely one disgusting dude. He was arrested in November 2020 when it was discovered that he was part of an online chat group that shared graphic images of child sexual abuse, TYT reports.

It hasn’t been disclosed publicly what the name of the site is where the discussions allegedly took place, but according to an affidavit shared by prosecutors, Hageman shared at least one video of a child being molested. Hageman also claimed to have sexually abused a child as young as 15 and reportedly indicated he wanted to sexually assault between 12 and 16 years old. Prosecutors also say they found “dozens” of videos depicting child sexual abuse on Hageman’s phone after federal agents executed a search warrant against him.

What’s even more shocking is that Hageman also requested the group’s members find “a dad with a young kid he will rent out to us,” court documents say.

Prior to working for the Commerce Department, Hageman lived in Arizona, where he worked at Turning Point USA, a Christian supremacist organization that promotes extreme-right political views to high school students. Apparently, he formed a connection with the group while he was a student at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

While this has not been publicly discussed by federal agents, there is evidence to suggest that Hageman, then working as a political appointee in an event management role for the Commerce Department when he was arrested, was also in the same group as Reuben Verastigui, a Republican political operative. In April, Verastigui was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty. Politico first noted the potential connection.

Prosecutors allege in separate court filings that their investigations of both men began around June 12, 2020. Verastigui and Hageman were reported to be in a group with “at least 18 members. Homeland Security special agent Raymond Abruzzese was the investigator in both cases. Like Hageman, Verastigui also lived in Arizona, where, according to officials, both investigations began.

Verastigui is especially vile — according to his guilty plea, he asked for videos showing babies being r*ped. These videos, he said were his “absolute favorite” and TYT reports he “rejoiced” when a clip was sent in reply.

This is beyond disgusting, but it’s not shocking that both men are Republicans and that one was an official in the Trump administration. Republicans are obsessed right now with teachers “grooming” children and Florida’s adoption of the “don’t say gay law,” even though of the two parties — Democrats and Republicans, the latter have been involved in far more scandals involving the abuse of minor children and young students than the former, Slate reports.

Neither of these two creeps should be allowed around young children ever again. Jeez. I just can’t believe people sometimes.

Verastigui worked for several congressional Republican committee groups between 2018 and 2020. From 2017 until 2018, he served on the Republican National Committee.

Hageman and Verastigui had access to a number of name-worthy Republicans. Verastigui has posted photos of himself at the White House and the U.S. Capitol on Instagram. Hageman has posted similar photos and has also taken photos of himself appearing next to such right-wingers as Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), in 2020, and former senior White House official Sebastian Gorka. Hageman has even posed alongside Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk.

Republicans have been screaming about pedophilia and “grooming” and that’s attracted extremist Christian groups like Turning Point USA that seek to reverse advancements that LGBTQ groups have achieved. This has helped the continued rise of the QAnon movement, whose messiah is Donald Trump. And of course, the QAnon movement, with its crazy theories involving pedophilia and worship of the former president spawned, in part, the deadly Capitol siege.

Kirk, of course, is just one of many far-right extremists who have pushed false pedophilia stories, especially against teachers and doctors. He’s posted things like this on Twitter:

If they want us to stop calling them “groomers” and “pedophiles” maybe they should stop being groomers and pedophiles…just a thought.https://t.co/cAKWjlxiNf

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 17, 2022

Because that’s just the creep he is.