Report: Trump’s NatSec Pick Pushed Fake News 16 Times Since August

Michael Flynn, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for National Security advisor gets in an elevator at Trump Tower, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Michael Flynn, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for National Security advisor gets in an elevator at Trump Tower, Monday, Dec. 5, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor, has reportedly promoted conspiracy theories and unfounded accusations at least 16 times since August.

Flynn used his Twitter account in recent months to push unproven and outrageous allegations about top Democrats, according to a Politico report published Tuesday.

The report cited Flynn’s retweet of a post claiming that Hillary Clinton “secretly waged war” on the Catholic Church and another which called President Barack Obama a “jihadi” who “laundered” money for Muslim terrorists in Iran.

Flynn promoted a claim that John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign manager, took part in occult rituals involving bodily fluids. He also posted tweets suggesting that Clinton’s emails contained information on “Money Laundering, Sex Crimes w Children, etc” and asking readers to “decide” for themselves based on a “MUST READ” article by True Pundit, a fake news site.

During the presidential campaign, True Pundit pushed the false claim that Clinton wore an earpiece during a debate. The site broke into the mainstream after publishing a bizarre conspiracy theory that Clinton led a child sex trafficking ring run from the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizza restaurant, which Flynn promoted a week before the election.

On Sunday, a man entered the restaurant with an AR-15 assault rifle and fired at least one shot. He was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, and reportedly told police that he came to “self-investigate” the fringe conspiracy theory dubbed “Pizzagate.”

Latest Livewire
98
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Why isn’t the media outside Flynn’s place of residence day and night? This is absurd. He needs to answer these questions.

  2. FOX: That sounds great. We do it all day long and will be doing it forever. Constitution is great.

  3. Make that “National Insecurity Advisor”.

    What. The. Fuck. Is. Wrong. With. These. People?

  4. Avatar for pmm080 pmm080 says:

    How about a report about the people in Don’s circle and his picks who don’t lie or who aren’t crooks?

    Are there any???

  5. It’s time to make this asshole’s life unbearable. Let’s make Drumpf’s life unbearable too.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

92 more replies

Participants

Avatar for ajaykalra Avatar for hoppy Avatar for jloomis3 Avatar for bobatkinson Avatar for cwazycajun Avatar for fourlegsgood Avatar for carlosfiance Avatar for sniffit Avatar for sickneffintired Avatar for eastlansing Avatar for rantcaster Avatar for lastroth Avatar for quin Avatar for quax Avatar for jeffrey Avatar for anon216902 Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for kfraz43 Avatar for tena Avatar for ombrax Avatar for clauscph Avatar for pmaroneyb Avatar for birdford Avatar for coprophagoussmile

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: