A former Biden appointee and current Democratic candidate in Texas was arrested last week for allegedly posting fake racist social media comments about himself.

Taral Patel was appointed by President Joe Biden to serve in the Office of White House Liaison, as well as on the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. He is now running as the Democrat candidate for county commissioner in Fort Bend County Precinct 3.


Shortly after launching his campaign last year, Patel claimed that he and his family had been victims of a vicious, race-based smear campaign perpetrated by his Republican opponent, Andy Meyers, and Meyers’s supporters.

Patel alleged he had received dozens of racist messages, including ones in which he was called a “monkey” and “subhuman,” as well as others directly attacking his Hindu faith.

“These hateful images (a small sample attached here) are from a place of deep and misguided fear—incited by people like former President Donald Trump, and today’s extremist Republican party fear that immigrants are ‘taking their jobs’ and setting out to hurt our own communities,” Patel wrote at the time.

Texas Dem pol and ex-Biden appointee arrested for allegedly posting fake racist social comments about himself.
“These hateful images (a small sample attached here) are from a place of deep and misguided fear – incited by people like former President Donald Trump, and today’s… pic.twitter.com/XI6ej4Z2Ev

— Lorrie Ann 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇸 (@LorrieAnn25) June 17, 2024

Meyers, the Republican running against him, denied the accusations and requested an investigation by the Fort Bend County district attorney’s office into Patel’s claims.

Investigators then subpoenaed Facebook and Google to obtain account information about the accounts allegedly posting hateful comments about Patel, only to discover that the accounts had been created by Patel and were linked to his address, phone number, bank card number, and more.

Texas law enforcement arrested Patel last week for online impersonation in the third degree, which is a felony, and for a misrepresentation of identity, which is a misdemeanor.

Fort Bend County GOP chair Bobby Eberle slammed Patel as another Jussie Smollett, the disgraced actor who was also charged for fabricating a racial hate crime against himself.

“Patel garnered widespread news coverage (like his former boss) for claiming that racist social media posts were made against him,” Eberle said in a statement. “Whether Republican or Democrat, such tactics should be unequivocally condemned by all who value integrity and accountability in politics.”