Ted Lieu, fake news machine – Latest News
Years in the past, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) demanded that “Facebook should do more internally to regulate fake news and point out fake news.” Recently, Lieu lastly made a case for such non-public censorship — with some fake news of his own.
Lieu is understood for sensational claims like claiming that “Trump is broke.” In an age of rage, Lieu is aware of that you will need to go louder and larger to be heard above the mob. Facts are actually passé.
At a latest House Judiciary Committee listening to on the Jeffrey Epstein information, Lieu went full conspiracy theorist, successful the race to the underside together with his colleagues in making outrageous, unsupported claims.
Attorney General Pam Bondi testifies at a House Judiciary Committee listening to whereas US Representative Ted Lieu is seen on a TV screen. AFP through Getty Images
He urged that Trump not solely abused a minor, however that she was later murdered to keep her from talking. What Lieu omitted was that his blockbuster disclosure was based mostly on the unverified account of an nameless man who labored as a limo driver in 1995.
The weird account claimed the driving force picked up Trump and overheard him on the cellphone with somebody referred to as “Jeffrey” and made references to “abusing some girl.”
Driver Dan Ferree has self-identified because the source referenced by Lieu.
Ferree reportedly has posted tons of of politically anti-Trump and excessive memes to his Facebook account, together with a latest image of Trump in what seems to be a casket. He has additionally reportedly claimed that he was stalked by Trump associates.
In a defamation case, Ferree can be tough to move off as a credible source for a publication. The use of such sources is a acquainted tactic in Washington.
During the Chandra Levy scandal, politicians and pundits piled on Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.) because the presumptive assassin of the congressional intern. The source cited by Vanity Fair’s Dominick Dunne turned out to be a “horse whisperer” in Dubai who mentioned that he had heard Condit organized for her homicide. (Condit was later cleared within the case.)
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) questions Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier than the House Judiciary Committee. Getty Images
Ferree is just marginally higher than a horse whisperer as a source of Lieu’s. Ferree advised the FBI that he met a younger lady who advised him she had been raped by Trump and Epstein at a “fancy hotel.” He claimed that the younger lady was later discovered along with her head “blown off.” He mentioned that, whereas the officers on the scene thought it was homicide, the coroner later ruled it a suicide. There was no proof of such a case.
It seems that Lieu knew or suspected that the source of the allegation was unhinged or unreliable, as a result of he later reposted solely two of the three pages of the assertion to the FBI. The third web page included different weird claims concerning the Oklahoma City bombing and an allegedly drunk Hillary Clinton.
Lieu’s intentional omission of the third web page of the allegation places this disinformation effort in a significantly menacing gentle. This was not some hair-triggered posting that didn’t analysis the underlying story. This was a understanding effort to repost the sensational allegation whereas eradicating the half of the doc that undermined the credibility of the source.
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What is putting is how so many politicians supporting the crackdown on disinformation on the best are purveyors of such disinformation.
From the Russian conspiracy hoax to the flogging of migrants by Border Patrol brokers, members and the media have recurrently unfold false accounts with impunity. It isn’t thought of disinformation if it seems on BlueSky or MS NOW.
As an impeachment supervisor, Lieu condemned Trump over his “exhortations [and] the President’s sustained disinformation. We’ve seen a president stoking fears amidst these crises.” He demanded that Trump be faraway from workplace based mostly on that allegation of disinformation and inflammatory rhetoric.
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Lieu knew that in our post-truth political setting, it actually doesn’t matter if an allegation is unfaithful. He is feeding a rage habit amongst voters who ache for a regular stream of such outrageous claims.
He is an element of a trend that I’ve referred to as the “new Jacobins” in Rage and the Republic: institution figures who’re pandering to the mob in looking for to journey the wave of rage back into energy.
It was not long in the past that Democrats and the media tore into members who urged that the Clintons had been concerned within the suicide of key aide Vince Foster. The distinction is that there was an precise physique in that case.
Lieu reveals little concern over spreading a conspiracy concept based mostly on an unestablished death raised by a driver who coupled his allegations with different wild claims.
It has long been accepted that “politics ain’t beanbag,” however Lieu reveals that it’s now merely bonkers.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the creator of the New York Times bestselling “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
