Conspiracy theories might please Russia
WASHINGTON — Senators from both parties are deeply concerned that the conspiracy theories swirling online about Jeffrey Epstein’s death — and amplified by President Donald Trump on Twitter — are playing right into Russian hands.
The rush to spread baseless theories in the wake of Epstein’s apparent suicide is what makes American society “so vulnerable to disinformation and foreign influence threats,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-fla., tweeted this weekend. Rubio asserted that Russia, as part of its long-running campaign to sow political division in the U.S., might be capitalizing on Epstein’s death.
Perhaps the most shocking share of a conspiracy theory came from Trump himself, who retweeted a conservative actor who suggested Epstein’s death might somehow be tied to former President Bill Clinton.
While Rubio did not offer evidence to support his claims — and Twitter believes the theories are not foreign-backed — the rapid spread of conspiracy theories is similar to how Russia weaponized previous news events to sow division among Americans.
And the fact that even the president joined in the fray raises concerns that Moscow is positioned to repeat its 2016 playbook in the next election.
“That’s why it’s astonishingly irresponsible for the president to be echoing these charges using his own Twitter account — when Americans, wittingly or unwittingly, push this type of unproven propaganda, they are, in essence, doing Russia’s dirty work for them,” said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Trump on Tuesday defended his promotion of a baseless conspiracy theory, saying he had retweeted a “very highly respected conservative pundit” who is a “big Trump fan.”
On Saturday, Trump retweeted a message from conservative actor and comedian Terrence K. Williams that said “#Jefferyepstein had information on Bill Clinton & now he’s dead.”
Epstein and Clinton had socialized together in the past, as had Epstein and Trump.
“That was a retweet, that wasn’t from me,” Trump told reporters, “but he’s a man with half a million followers, a lot of followers. And he’s respected.
“So I think I was fine,” added Trump. • John Scully is the vice president of Ohio Paper Folders, a central Ohio origami club that sponsoring the Centerfold Ohio Origami Convention last weekend. Jon Herrity attended the convention. Because of a reporter’s errors, a story on Page A2 of Saturday’s Dispatch misspelled their names.