The son of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, embraced a baseless conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton on Sunday after a man who claimed to be investigating the hoax fired a rifle inside a pizza parlor in Northwest Washington, D.C., on Sunday.
The man, 28-year-old Edgar Maddison Welch of Salisbury, North Carolina, entered the restaurant, D.C. police said, to “self-investigate ‘Pizza Gate’ (a fictitious online conspiracy theory).” After firing his gun inside the establishment, he was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. No one was injured.
The baseless online conspiracy theory in question, spread by supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, holds that the pizza shop, Comet Ping Pong, is actually a front for a child sex ring led by Clinton, the Democratic nominee.
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On Sunday, Flynn’s son, Michael Flynn Jr., tweeted, “Until #Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story. The left seems to forget #PodestaEmails and the many ‘coincidences’ tied to it.”
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For weeks, Comet Ping Pong has been the victim of false news stories about Clinton trafficking children in the local D.C. restaurant’s back rooms. The stories appeared on Facebook, in addition to such dubious outlets as The New Nationalist and Alex Jones’ Infowars.
Since then, a hashtag, #PizzaGate, has been used to defame the restaurant. The owner and employees of the pizzeria have also been victims of harassment. Scurrilous and defamatory posts continue to appear on Twitter on a daily basis even as D.C. police have said the restaurant is not under investigation.
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Days later, on Nov. 4, the retired lieutenant general tweeted the hashtag #spiritcooking, referring to a conspiracy theory tying Podesta to satanic rituals.
- Discussion
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Incoming NatSecAdvisor and son have tweeted about conspiracy theory claiming DC satanic rituals.https://t.co/YgFnXxrhSi#ThisisNOTNormal
— Peter W. Singer (@peterwsinger) December 5, 2016
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