The Far-Right Pushes a New Conspiracy Theory to Discredit Jack Smith
Mother Jones illustration; J. Scott Applewhite/AP; Getty Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.A new conspiracy theory rising on the right is being deployed to help Donald Trump. It claims that Jack Smith, the special counsel who is prosecuting Trump for his attempt to overturn…
Far-Right Influencers Defended an Accused Fraudster. They Had Help.
Mother Jones; Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.In MAGA world, Karoline Leavitt is a rising star. A former Trump White House staffer, she won national notice last year when, at just 25 years of age, she captured the GOP nomination for a New…
A Massive Leak Spotlights the Extremism of an Anti-Trans Medical Group
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Michelle Cretella had a problem. In 2018, Cretella, then-president of the American College of Pediatricians, was speaking to the group’s board of directors about a reputation crisis she’d been trying to shake for years, ever since the Southern Poverty…
Alleged Fraudster Guo Wengui’s Social Media App Was a Big Security Risk, Ex-Employees Say
Mother Jones; Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Early last year, around 30 engineers at the social media company Gettr received a WhatsApp audio message from Guo Wengui, a wealthy Chinese exile with deep ties to US right-wing politics. Guo, who has since…
How the Case of Arrested FBI Agent Charles McGonigal Is Tied to a Russia-Linked Influence Effort
Joe Minchillo/AP Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.It was shocking news: Charles McGonigal, a former counterintelligence chief for the FBI, was arrested for his alleged role in two separate schemes. In one, he purportedly accepted $225,000 from an Albanian American businessman, while he was…
George Santos Relative Says They Never Gave $5,800 Reported by the Campaign: “I’m Dumbfounded”
Francis Chung/AP Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Last week, Mother Jones reported that more than a dozen top donors to Rep. George Santos’ first congressional campaign did not appear to exist. The donations from people whose names or addresses could not be confirmed totaled more…