Police are investigating the swastikas and broken windows at the Manchester coffee shop as a hate crime. A top official at a conservative group spending millions to elect John E. Sununu seems to think it might have been staged.
A regional director for Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Koch-funded conservative group whose political arm has spent millions of dollars to elect John E. Sununu to the US Senate, publicly embraced a claim that the hate crime at a Manchester coffee shop was staged for publicity.
Greg Moore posted on X at 9:48 a.m. Sunday that he had been traveling and was catching up on local news.
“Can anyone explain why the Moka Pot specifically would be targeted by white supremacists?” he wrote. “I’ve seen nothing that would explain that part. Very confused.”
An anonymous account called @Mossberg_alt replied with a theory: “A setup for free advertising. Likely an owner’s family member.”
“Cynically, that’s where my head went as well,” Moore replied.
The account Moore agreed with frequently posts unabashed racism and anti-Semitism.
On June 2, 2026, it posted that the author thanks Jesus for not being “a jew or a N***** .” On Aug. 30, 2026, it posted that New Hampshire is a “no n****** zone.
Both posts were publicly visible on the account when Moore replied to it Sunday morning. The account is followed by state Sen. Victoria Sullivan (Manchester-R) and state Rep. Sam Farrington (Rochester-R) as of the time of this reporting.
What actually happened at the Moka Pot?
Manchester police were called to the coffee shop at 8 Hanover St. at about 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. Multiple windows had been smashed. Two swastikas were spray-painted on a wall along Nutfield Lane with the words “WHITE POWER” between them. The graffiti was painted over by 11:15 that morning.
Police believe the damage happened between midnight and 4 a.m., after the last customers left a comedy show around 11:30 p.m. Police Chief Peter Marr called it “a deliberate act intended to intimidate and instill fear.” Police are investigating it as a possible hate crime, and because of what was painted on the wall, the department notified the New Hampshire Department of Justice Civil Rights Unit.
The next day, police released surveillance images of a masked person of interest seen near the shop during that window. No one has been arrested at the time of publication.
The owners had publicly addressed Moore’s question of why someone would target the shop four days before he asked it. On Wednesday, they told NBC10 Boston they could think of only one reason the shop was targeted: It is a place that welcomes everyone.
Nothing that police or any news outlet has made public suggests the vandalism was staged, and no official has raised that possibility.
Moore became state director of AFP’s New Hampshire chapter in 2013 and is now a regional director for the group. He is listed as treasurer of AFP-New Hampshire on the group’s campaign mail and is a registered lobbyist with the secretary of state.
Before joining the group, he served as chief of staff of the New Hampshire House under then-Speaker Bill O’Brien.
AFP acts as the Republican ground game in New Hampshire. It does the door-knocking and voter-turnout work that a political party would normally run for its own candidates, and it has played that role in past elections.
This year, the group’s political arm is doing that work in support of Sununu. AFP Action is a super political action committee, or super PAC. That means it can raise and spend unlimited money to help elect candidates, as long as it does not coordinate with their campaigns.
AFP Action endorsed Sununu in November 2025, with Moore calling him “the perfect antidote for what’s wrong with Washington today.”
The super PAC pledged its “unrivalled grassroots operation” to Sununu, and in May he knocked doors alongside its volunteers at a Manchester kickoff. It also spent nearly $2 million supporting Sununu before September, in a race the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election forecaster, rates as a toss-up.
The graffiti also hit the side of a building that houses the Moka Pot, a shop called Without, and the Manchester district office of Rep. Chris Pappas, the Democrat Sununu is running against.
Jeff Taylor, a member of the Manchester Board of School Committee, reacted to Moore’s allegation on social media, calling his claim a conspiracy theory.
“Just baffling conspiracy theories coming out of @NHGOP’s allies at AFP. The Moka Pot is a welcoming community hub for all the incredible diversity Manchester has to offer (with some good coffee too!) Just in the last few years, Republicans, aided by you and @AFPhq, have defended and even promoted the hatred and othering of LGBTQ folks (especially trans folks).”
“You’ve watched as people have been sent to foreign gulags and domestic internment camps just for who they are,” Taylor wrote.
John Tackeff, a longtime New Hampshire activist, called on Sununu to condemn Moore’s post:
“Hey @SununuSenator, why are you okay with the @AFPhq (who is doing a ton for your campaign) lead man in NH spreading disgusting conspiracy theories with Nazis. Surely you can’t be okay with this. This is absolutely disgusting behavior by AFP staffers and you need to condemn it.”
