Donald Trump’s endorsement might not have helped Rep. Renee Ellmers survive a primary, but she’s still doing her best for him. And right now, that means pushing the false story that Hillary Clinton is about to be indicted. Ellmers got into an extensive back and forth on the subject with CNN host Chris Cuomo, an exchange that literally involved “There is proof.” “There isn’t any proof.” “There is.”
Cuomo broke through that is too/is not dynamic by asking Ellmers where the proof is (real answer: fantasyland):
“The proof is the FBI investigators,” Ellmers said. “This is coming out everywhere. I'm hearing about it. I don't really have all that many connections and yet I'm hearing about the investigation.”
Lady, you’re a sitting member of Congress. I’m pretty sure that by most people’s standards you have plenty of connections. It’s just that in this case, what you’re “hearing about it” is probably coming from social media rants exaggerating a Fox News story that Fox News already had to walk back. You don’t need to have “connections” to hear right-wing conspiracies.
When Cuomo pointed out that FBI investigators—who, by the way, appear to be out of control—don’t make decisions about indictments, Ellmers had a conspiracy theory ready:
“You know what, people are talking,” she said. “So, the investigation is moving forward. Now, I do agree with you, there is someone who is trying to put a cover up in place here. And it's at the Justice Department level. That's where it is.”
Yup, if the Justice Department doesn’t indict, that’s evidence of a cover-up. There’s no possibility it’s because there are no grounds for indictment—something FBI Director James Comey himself said about the email investigation in July. “People are talking” is not grounds for indictment. Not that you’d know that to hear Trump’s people talking. But even they should realize that, if only because if “people are talking” was grounds for legal action, Clinton would have long since been locked up.
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