next news network franci
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">~ putin bounty $? plus bin laden win not real</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/bizarre-benghazi-conspiracy-theory-traveled-through-right-wing-echo-chamber"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/bizarre-benghazi-conspiracy-theory-traveled-through-right-wing-echo-chamber</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Over the last several days, a fringe right-wing narrative has been circulating alleging a secret plot among Obama administration officials and the CIA to protect Osama bin Laden and assassinate members of SEAL Team 6</b>. The claims appear to have originated at a conservative conference last weekend and quickly spread across the internet, reaching President Donald Trump by Tuesday evening when he retweeted an unverified account affiliated with QAnon. This conspiracy theory is not the first time that the president has amplified fringe, far-right accounts, but it shows the speed that such false and baseless claims can spread on social media through the web of far-right outlets and fringe conspiracy theorists.</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A conservative conference legitimizes a wild, Benghazi-related conspiracy theory</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The claim seems to have originated from <a href="https://twitter.com/AMPFEST_USA" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">AmpFest 2020</a>, a conservative <b>conference hosted by <a href="https://americanpriority.com/about/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">American Priority</a> </b>and held in Miami during October 8-11</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Charles Woods, the father of a victim of the 2014 Benghazi attacks, and Nick Noe, a conservative activist who has repeatedly pushed </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VQ0CP2S5U" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Benghazi</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> conspiracy theories, gave a presentation featuring an<b> interview with “whistleblower” Alan Howell Parrot, who claims to have worked for U.S. intelligence. Parrot alleges that the Obama administration made a $152 billion payout to Iran to cover up the truth about hiding bin Laden and the killing of SEAL Team 6 members.</b> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Similar conspiracy theories have circulated regarding the attacks and the Iran nuclear deal, and <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/mar/17/donald-trump/no-donald-trump-we-are-not-giving-iran-150-billion/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Trump</a> even referenced some during the 2016 campaign. But all have been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-biden-navy-seal/false-claim-biden-revealed-identities-of-navy-seal-team-six-idUSKBN22W2AI" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">debunked</a>.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As The Daily Beast’s <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-touts-falconers-benghazi-blood-sacrifice-conspiracy-theory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Will Sommer</a> explained:</font></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Parrot claims that Biden cut a deal with Iran to set up Bin Laden’s 2011 death in Pakistan. But when Iran double-crossed the United States and switched in a Bin Laden body double, in Parrot’s telling, Biden and Clinton arranged for a Navy SEAL helicopter to be shot down to keep the truth about the raid from getting out— a reference to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Afghanistan_Boeing_Chinook_shootdown" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">real-world helicopter attack</a> in Afghanistan that killed 38 people, including 25 Navy SEALs.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Vice President Biden paid with the blood of Seal Team 6,” Parrot said in the video. “He spent their blood like currency.”</font></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">Later in the video, Noe claims that the Benghazi compound was attacked to cover up the fact that, supposedly, the missile used in the helicopter attack came from the United States.[</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">false flag?]</span></font></b></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It’s just so wicked,” Parrot said in the video, adding that he has “terabytes” of evidence to prove the conspiracy theory to Trump.</font></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The video clip containing the conspiracy theory appeared online</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On October 11, conservative personality <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905631" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Anna Khait</a> tweeted about the presentation alongside a video clip of Parrot’s claims, which went viral and currently has 1.2 million views. The next day, Khait <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905636" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a> a YouTube interview with Noe, including the hashtags “#BenghaziAintGoingAway #BenghaziBombshell.” Khait also <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905646" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a> out a YouTube video of a panel interview with Woods and Noe at AmpFest. Both videos received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. </font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On October 12</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">, YouTube <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/google/youtube-made-money-videos-pushing-false-antifa-wildfires-claim" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conspiracy</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/youtube-videos-falsely-claiming-masks-are-harmful-have-gotten-hundreds" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">theory</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/google/joe-biden-debate-conspiracy-theory-has-well-over-million-views-youtube-and-platform" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">channel</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The Next News Network </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">also </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/google/youtube-keeps-allowing-verified-conspiracy-theory-channel-next-news-network-monetize" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">published</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> an interview with Khait on the new findings, which currently has nearly 2.9 million YouTube views. The story was further pushed by right-wing blog DJHJ Media’s </span><a href="https://djhjmedia.com/kari/explosive-cia-whistleblower-exposes-bidens-alleged-role-with-the-deaths-of-seal-team-claims-to-have-documented-proof/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR09pmbmRIVmJonsEhmTCOM0kjRZU9wnATasz7D4oxKFcXvoSKRb1QmPCQs" rel="”nofollow”" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Kari Donovan</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, QAnon-adjacent YouTube channel </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905671" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">RedPill789</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and dubious Iranian blogger </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905681" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Heshmat Alavi</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, who was </span><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/09/heshmat-alavi-fake-iran-mek/" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">recently reported</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> by The Intercept as being a seemingly fake persona created by an Iranian opposition group. </span></font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The story circulated on right-wing YouTube, Twitter, and fringe blogs until Trump shared the post </font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On October 13, Donavan’s blog post was <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/10/14/trump-promotes-baseless-qanon-endorsed-conspiracy-theory-alleging-obama-staged-bin-ladens-killing/#22e57cf55b16" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a> by user @The171111 alongside the <a href="https://archive.fo/2jpDx#selection-3087.0-3087.53" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claim</a> that “Hiden Biden and Obama may have had Seal Team 6 killed,” which was then retweeted by Trump. The account, which also reportedly pushed QAnon content, has since been suspended by Twitter. <a href="https://djhjmedia.com/kari/document-dump-cia-whistleblower-parrot-makes-good-on-promise-story-of-seal-team-6-and-bidens-alleged-involvement/" rel="”nofollow”" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Donovan</a> and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905701" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Khait</a> both posted that Noe is releasing documents on Twitter that prove the conspiracy theory. <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905706" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Noe</a>, on his part, sent out a series of disjointed tweets which supposedly contain audio transcripts from Parrot.</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Message boards and QAnon supporters picked up on the wild claims</font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Throughout Tuesday, the story continued to spread in the fringe far-right ecosystem; it was pushed by <b>QAnon influencer <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905711" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Praying Medic</a> </b>on Twitter, and <a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282417104/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">multiple</a> <a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282413714/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">large</a> <a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282421956/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">4chan</a> <a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282417223/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">threads</a> on the far-right “politically incorrect” message board known as “/pol/.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">” </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Former Navy SEAL </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905721" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Craig Sawyer</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> and Project Veritas “</span><a href="https://www.projectveritas.com/news/another-facebook-whistleblower-interference-on-a-global-level-in-elections/" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">whistleblower</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">” </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905726" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Ryan Hartwig</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> both tweeted about the story. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905731" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney</a> tweeted a link to the Next News Network interview, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">and QAnon account “</span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905736" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Greg Rubini</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">” </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-- who is </span><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/greg-rubini-twitter-account-palusa-revealed" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">actually</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> “Gregorio Palusa, a 61-year-old Italian sound engineer and marketer with no national security or intelligence credentials” <b>-- tweeted that he can “now officially confirm that Trump KNOWS: he has been informed of the whole thing, and given documents & files”; Rubini’s tweet got over 12,000 retweets and 26,000 likes.</b> </span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On October 14, Khait published two more <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905796" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">YouTube</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905801" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">videos</a></b> claiming to have 2011 audio recordings from Parrot discussing the conspiracy with others. Far-right <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905746" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accounts</a> and <a href="http://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282481950" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">message boards</a> continued to push the story on Wednesday along with Trump’s amplification, which some took as <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905751" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">proof</a> of the story. </font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hashtags helped the conspiracy theory spread between platforms </font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to individual accounts pushing the story, the following hashtags flooded social media with claims about the conspiracy theory: #BenghaziAintGoingAway, #SEALTeam6, #OsamaBinLaden, #BenghaziBombshell, #Benghazi, #SealTeamSix.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This debacle is yet another example of the president of the United States promoting fringe conspiracy theories; Media Matters’ Alex Kaplan has found that Trump has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/fbi-calls-qanon-domestic-terror-threat-trump-has-amplified-qanon-supporters-twitter-more-20" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">promoted QAnon accounts</a> on Twitter over 200 times throughout his presidency.</font></span></p></div></div></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">-----</font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GoFundMe removed a fund-raiser for Judy Mikovits, stating that the campaign violated the website’s terms of service.</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By April, coverage of Dr. Mikovits rose to 800 mentions a day. That month, Darla Shine, the wife of Bill Shine, a former Fox News executive and former top aide to Mr. Trump, promoted Dr. Mikovits’s book in a tweet. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Videos by The Epoch Times, a publication with ties to the Falun Gong, and the conservative outlet “The Next News Network” interviewed Dr. Mikovits about the pandemic, generating more than 1.5 million views on social networks.</span></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then came the video from “Plandemic,” which made mentions of Dr. Mikovits on social media spike far higher. The video was produced by Mikki Willis, who was involved in making “Bernie or Bust” and “Never Hillary” videos during the 2016 presidential campaign....</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rww 420</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">while some <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trump-retweets-call-to-fire-anthony-fauci-from-religious-right-conspiracy-theorist-deanna-lorraine/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">right-wing activists</a> have called on President Donald Trump to <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trump-ignites-the-fringe-with-firefauci-retweet/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">fire Dr. Anthony Fauci</a>, a prominent voice during the COVID-19 pandemic, one far-right conspiracy theory site is telling millions of viewers that being fired is “the nicest thing that could be done to Fauci” and is calling him a traitorous criminal who is “directly responsible” for the development of the coronavirus.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fauci heads the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has sometimes angered Trump supporters by correcting misinformation dispensed by the president. On April 12, Trump <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trump-retweets-call-to-fire-anthony-fauci-from-religious-right-conspiracy-theorist-deanna-lorraine/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">retweeted</a> a call by failed congressional candidate and conspiracy theorist DeAnna Lorraine to “#FireFauci.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Conspiracy site Next News Network went a step further on April 16, publishing a long interview with Dr. Rashid Buttar who, as Media Matters <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/despite-rules-about-misinformation-youtube-video-calling-coronavirus-false" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">noted</a> in its report on the video, “proceeded to push multiple falsehoods and conspiracy theories,”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> including the claim that not a single death had actually been demonstrated to be caused by the COVID-19 virus. Buttar claimed that social distancing guidelines defy “every logical aspect of science and medicine.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Buttar accused Fauci of violating a government moratorium on a type of “chimeric” research and directing funding toward research that Buttar claims led to the creation of the COVID-19 virus in a North Carolina lab. Host Gary Franchi said that research was then outsourced to China.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s part of the exchange about Fauci between host Gary Franchi and Buttar, who has been <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-social-media_n_5e83d701c5b6a1bb764f6d3b?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubWVkaWFtYXR0ZXJzLm9yZy9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1jb3ZpZC0xOS9kZXNwaXRlLXJ1bGVzLWFib3V0LW1pc2luZm9ybWF0aW9uLXlvdXR1YmUtdmlkZW8tY2FsbGluZy1jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1mYWxzZQ&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAb95N_aVlT8tnnot2gqnueapeYsuQ3mWWy4ifale_R8xrrP7xlZsMWKhqLzTdEeWMsUM2duTjdGJDRvSxowI9ZdO0ypOLVn5jgxblEWhNJnoSGGaYjoTV4Nt1YoupUo75X0BI_2ytM-e9gDK8BSRfhVIyKsl85bkJJqORNgGIuN" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">described</a> by Huffington Post as “<a href="https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/local/medical-board-reprimands-mecklenburg-doctor-of-osteopathy/275-374414498" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">a</a> <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/18/book-raises-alarms-about-alternative-medicine/2429385/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">widely</a> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/2020/desiree-jennings-fake-muscle-disorder/story?id=11228285" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">discredited</a> <a href="https://www.wbtv.com/story/12234723/huntersville-doctor-accepts-reprimand-keeps-unorthodox-work/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">osteopath</a>”:</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Franchi:</font></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(239, 243, 243); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Is Fauci directly responsible for this pandemic? Because he maneuvered the money, he maneuvered around the moratorium, kept this chimeric research going in China? Is he directly responsible for not just the pandemic, but also the response that’s killed the economy, put what, 17 to 22 million people out of work? Is Fauci directly responsible?</b></font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Buttar:</font></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(239, 243, 243); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">I’m gonna say this, I think I’ve seen some petitions going around. I know Dr. Shiva said that Fauci should be fired. I think that’s the nicest thing that could be done to Fauci … <b>He’s a criminal. He’s broken the law. He’s going against the government.</b> I mean, to me, that seems like it’s a t<b>raitorous t</b>hing to do when you—the government has passed a regulation, and he’s at one of the highest levels in the NIH. He’s got a directorship at the NIH. And then he breaks the law. He breaks the moratorium and then funds research against something that could potentially cause harm throughout the entire world. And he’s in collusion with a foreign government to do—I mean, I don’t know. That’s a matter for attorneys to decide.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Buttar then talked about the early days of the HIV crisis, when he claimed Fauci was “pushing the agenda of a drug prophylactically to treat people for a condition that has now been seen to be related to lifestyle, nutritional status, all sorts of other things.” Returning to the nation’s current coronavirus crisis, he charged that there is a <b>“conflict of interest”</b>involved in Fauci pushing for an unproven vaccine while arguing against treating patients with drugs promoted by Trump that have not yet been shown to be safe or effective.</font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Buttar added:</font></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(239, 243, 243); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>People need to wake up and realize there is a massive criminal component to this. This entire world economy, the whole world economy shutting down, it comes back to one person, in my opinion, and that’s Fauci. </b>Now, there’s other people that are involved with the charade, obviously, but Fauci is the person that they’ve put up in the front, and Fauci is the one who had the ability to stop this.</font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>In 2018, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">The Guardian identified the Next News Network</span> guk as “a dubious operation that recycles stories harvested from far-right publications, fake news sites and Russian media outlets</b>.” It reported that Franchi was “once a leading proponent of a conspiracy that claimed the US government was creating concentration camps for its citizens” and noted that YouTube’s algorithms “consistently amplified” the network’s anti-Clinton videos in the run-up to the 2016 election.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media Matters <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/despite-rules-about-misinformation-youtube-video-calling-coronavirus-false" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">noted</a> this week that the Next News Network video has “racked up millions of views” in spite of YouTube’s pledge to crack down on misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Last October, in a story titled </span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2019/09/10/youtube-doesnt-just-welcome-conspiracy-theorists--it-gives-them-awards/#778aa30040f4" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">“YouTube Doesn’t Just Welcome ‘Conspiracy Theorists’—It Gives Them Awards,”</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Forbes associate editor Thomas Brewster noted that </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">YouTube had given Franchi a gold “creator Award” </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">in May. In December, Franchi put out a </span><a href="https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/19/12/n14953303/the-next-news-network-becomes-1st-conservative-news-youtube-channel-to-surpass-one-billion-views" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">press release</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> celebrating that<b> Next News Network had surpassed 1 billion views and was approaching 1.3 million subscribers.</b></span></font></p><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/beyond-firefauci-conspiracy-theorists-claim-fauci-directly-responsible-for-covid-19/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags:</span> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/gary-franchi/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Gary Franchi</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/rashid-buttar/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Rashid Buttar</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/conspiracy-theories/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">conspiracy theories</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/coronavirus/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Coronavirus</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/next-news-network/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Next News Network</a></font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div></div></div></div>