As a debunked story that Hillary Clinton “spied” on Donald Trump makes the rounds in right-wing media, Rudy Giuliani has fanned the flames by saying he has the proof in his house.
“I happen to have it in my bedroom, or my den, actually,” Mr Giuliani told Newsmax on Tuesday. “I’ve had it there for years.”
Mr Giuliani, who served as Mr Trump’s personal attorney while he was still in the White House, did not elaborate on what that evidence was. He only said there was lots of it.
“There’s a lot more to come out,” the former New York mayor said.
The spying allegations stem from a recent court filing by John Durham, the special counsel who Mr Trump appointed to investigate the Russia investigation – the probe into 2016 election interference that plagued his first years in office.
On Friday, Mr Durham indicted Michael Sussmann, a cybersecurity lawyer who worked for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Back in 2016, Mr Sussmann tipped the FBI about what he considered suspicious internet traffic between Trump buildings and a Russian bank. During that meeting, Mr Durham says Mr Sussmann falsely told the feds he had no clients, when in fact he was working for the Clinton campaign. On Friday, Mr Sussmann was charged with lying to the FBI – a charge that he denies.
From this small, confusing bit of news, a tornado of right-wing misinformation has spun out of control.
“Clinton campaign paid to ‘infiltrate’ Trump Tower, White House servers to link Trump to Russia, Durham finds,” one Fox News headline trumpeted.
“Durham says Democrat-allied tech executive spied on Trump’s White House office,” the Washington Examiner declared.
Mainstream news outlets have done their best to debunk the conspiracy. The Washington Post called it “a story built on a grab bag of misleading assertions, misinterpretations and outright lies.” The New York Times said “the entire narrative appeared to be mostly wrong or old news.”
But the story has continued to grow, and Republican politicians – one ex-president in particular – have run with it.
“The latest pleading from Special Counsel Robert Durham provides indisputable evidence that my campaign and presidency were spied on by operatives paid by the Hillary Clinton Campaign in an effort to develop a completely fabricated connection to Russia,” Mr Trump wrote in a statement on Saturday. “In a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death.”
So by Tuesday, it was no surprise that Newsmax, another right-wing news source, was discussing the “spying” with Mr Trump’s former lawyer.
“They may feel that it’s gobbledygook,” Mr Giuliani said of the newspapers disputing the story, “but it’s gobbledygook supported by about 1,000 pieces of evidence.”
The Independent has reached out to Fox News, Newsmax, and the Washington Examiner for comment.
