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So, How Did ItalyGate Get Into The White House?

NEWTOWN, PA - OCTOBER 31: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows greets supporters before President Donald Trump speaks during a rally on October 31, 2020 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. With the election only three days ... NEWTOWN, PA - OCTOBER 31: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows greets supporters before President Donald Trump speaks during a rally on October 31, 2020 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. With the election only three days away, Trump is holding four rallies across Pennsylvania today, as he vies to recapture the Keystone State's vital 20 electoral votes. In 2016, he carried Pennsylvania by only 44,292 votes out of more than 6 million cast, less than a 1 percent differential, becoming the first Republican to claim victory here since 1988. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images) MORE LESS

June 21, 2021 5:54 p.m.

Within weeks of ItalyGate’s birth as a conspiracy theory, it had made it into the highest levels of government.

The speed with which the theory went from creation into an email from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to senior DOJ officials raises the question: how did the bonkers idea that Italy changed the results of the 2020 election via military satellites make the leap from right-wing fever swamps into the White House?

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