Rep. Byron Donalds appeared on Maria Bartiromo’s right-wing propaganda show on Fox Business Thursday to push the baseless conspiracy theory that the shadowy “deep state” orchestrated sham investigations in order to destroy Donald Trump’s already terrible reputation.
“Look, what you can’t do is spy on your political rival and then weaponize the government against your political rival if he happens to become president,” Donalds said, reacting to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard stripping security clearances from 37 current and former national security officials.
Their crime? Allegedly “politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards.”
Related | Trump goes to war against intelligence
“People do need to be held accountable,” the Florida Republican continued. “The first part of that is what the Trump administration has already started to do, which is removing and revoking security clearances for people who were involved, in my view, in something that was way bigger than a, than a, Watergate or even the autopen.”
Gabbard unveiled her evidence-free conspiracy theory in July, accusing former President Barack Obama of a “treasonous conspiracy” against Trump dating back to the 2016 election.
The fledgling “Russiagate” conspiracy, widely seen as a distraction from the Trump administration’s refusal to release documents related to sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, followed the “autopen” conspiracy theory. That narrative consisted of the claim that former President Joe Biden, too cognitively impaired to govern, used an autopen to sign executive orders under the guidance of nefarious, shadowy types.
With the autopen fantasy losing steam among the MAGA base, GOP officials have been forced to revive old attacks on both Obama and even trusty Trump nemesis Hillary Clinton.
