Trump refrains from disavowing QAnon conspiracy.
President Trump on Friday refused to disavow the QAnon conspiracy theory, avoiding questions from a reporter about whether he agreed with Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican nominee for a House seat in Georgia, in her support of a movement that has been labeled a potential domestic terrorism threat by the F.B.I.
Ms. Greene is a proponent of a convoluted pro-Trump conspiracy theory involving a “deep state” of child-molesting Satanist traitors who are plotting against the president.
At a news briefing on Friday, an Associated Press reporter, Jill Colvin, asked the president whether he agreed with Ms. Greene’s statement that the conspiracy theory was something “worth listening to.”
“She won by a lot,” he responded. “She comes from a great state.”
When pressed again by Ms. Colvin about whether he agreed specifically with her support of the QAnon conspiracy theory, Mr. Trump did not answer the question, and called on another reporter.
Earlier, on Twitter, Mr. Trump endorsed Ms. Greene, calling her a “future Republican Star” and “a real WINNER!”
Mr. Trump has long used his fame and platform to amplify conspiracy theories and undermine his political enemies by muddying the waters when it comes to facts. A day earlier, Mr. Trump appeared to begin elevating the lie that Kamala Harris, who was born in California, was not eligible for national office because her parents were immigrants.
“I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements,” Mr. Trump said of Ms. Harris, promoting a false assertion from behind the podium in the White House briefing room.
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