Trump ducks question on QAnon conspiracy theory
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday sidestepped questioning about whether he supports QAnon, a right-wing, proTrump conspiracy theory.
A reporter asked the president about the theory at a White House briefing Friday after Trump tweeted his congratulations to Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won her House primary runoff in Georgia this week. She has called the theory “something worth listening to and paying attention to” and called its source, known as Q, a “patriot.” Trump called her a “future Republican Star.”
“Well, she did very well in the election. She won by a lot. She was very popular and she comes from a great state and she had a tremendous victory. So absolutely, I did congratulate her,” Trump said, ignoring a follow-up before moving on to another reporter.
On Thursday, Trump also gave credence to an op-ed that questioned Democrat Kamala Harris’ eligibility to serve as vice president even though she was born in Oakland, Calif.
Asked about the matter, Trump told reporters he had “heard” rumors that Harris, a Black woman and U.S.-born citizen whose parents were immigrants, does not meet the requirement to serve in the White House. The president said he considered the rumors “very serious.” Constitutional lawyers have dismissed it.
QAnon has ricocheted around the darker corners of the internet since late 2017, but has been creeping into mainstream politics more and more. The theory centers on an alleged anonymous, high-ranking government official known as “Q” who shares information about an anti-Trump “deep state” often tied to satanism and child sex trafficking.
Trump has retweeted QAnon-promoting
accounts.
In addition to her embrace of QAnon, Greene has made a series of what some consider racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic comments, including alleging an “Islamic invasion” of government offices and accusing Jewish billionaire George Soros of collaborating with Nazis.
Those comments had led the No. 2 House Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and others to back Greene’s opponent in hopes of denying her the party’s nomination. Green still faces a Democrat in November, but the GOP primary was considered the real contest in a district Trump won handily in 2016.
Trump has never publicly addressed QAnon. Asked about the group in 2018, thenWhite House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump “condemns and denounces any group that would incite violence against another individual.”