conspiracy theory

Stories 41 - 60 | << Prev   Next >>

Donald Trump Jr. Thinks Vaccine News Is a Little Fishy

He suggests Pfizer delayed news to benefit Joe Biden

(Newser) - Pfizer's announcement that its vaccine appears to deliver strong protection against COVID-19 was hailed as great news in the stock market and beyond. But Donald Trump Jr. sees a political conspiracy at play, suggesting that the company held off on the news to hurt his father's reelection chances,...

Media Rejects 'Conspiracy' in Arizona

'Sharpiegate' theory comes to life on social media

(Newser) - As states across the US release vote totals for the presidential election, some social media users are falsely claiming that ballots are being invalidated in Arizona. The supposed culprit: Sharpie markers, the AP reports. In what's come to be known as #Sharpiegate, social media posts suggest that election officials...

She Claimed Politician Was a Pedophile, Now Owes $625K

Australian MP's accuser is unapologetic, to say the least

(Newser) - Internet trolls, beware: A conspiracy theorist who claimed a politician was involved in a pedophile ring has been ordered to pay more than half a million dollars. Last month, Anne Webster, a first-term Australian MP, and her husband sued Karen Brewer over a series of Facebook posts that claimed Webster...

Top Republican in House Rips QAnon

McCarthy, Pence, and Cheney reject conspiracy theory

(Newser) - Under pressure after a conspiracy theorist won a GOP primary in Georgia , the House Republican leader has distanced his party from QAnon. "There is no place for QAnon in the Republican Party," Rep. Kevin McCarthy said in a Fox News interview, the Hill reports. "I do not...

Widower of Scarborough Aide Asks Twitter to Act on Trump

Timothy Klausutis wants president's murder conspiracy tweets deleted

(Newser) - The widower of a former congressional staffer of Joe Scarborough has gone directly to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey with a plea: Delete President Trump's conspiracy theories suggesting that Scarborough killed his wife. Trump has been pushing the idea hard of late that Scarborough, now at MSNBC, played a role...

Conspiracy Theorists Hijack Country Singer's Virus Death

Widow of Joe Diffie slams 'false and hurtful' claims on how her husband died

(Newser) - Conspiracy theorists are twisting facts online about country singer Joe Diffie's death from COVID-19 complications in an effort to promote their claims that health officials are exaggerating the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. Diffie, who topped the charts in the 1990s with honky-tonk singles including "Home" and "...

FDA Has a Coronavirus Warning for Alex Jones

Tells Infowars host to stop hawking fake treatments for the virus

(Newser) - Count Alex Jones among the people hawking fake coronavirus treatments . The FDA and the FTC warned the right-wing conspiracy theorist in a letter to stop promoting and selling silver-infused products including toothpaste and mouthwash that "are intended to mitigate, prevent, treat, diagnose, or cure COVID-19." Those products are...

Engineer Tries to Crash Train Into Hospital Ship

He said he was suspicious of USNS Mercy's reasons for being in Los Angeles

(Newser) - A Port of Los Angeles locomotive engineer has admitted trying to crash a train into a hospital ship, federal prosecutors say. According to a court affidavit, 44-year-old Eduardo Moreno told investigators that he intentionally derailed the train at full speed on Tuesday because he thought the USNS Mercy might be...

Shocked Voice at Trump Rally: 'Was That a Q?'

How the bizarre QAnon conspiracy theory entered the political mainstream

(Newser) - President Donald Trump was more than halfway through his speech at a rally in Milwaukee when one of his hand gestures caught the eye of a supporter standing in the packed arena. The 51-year-old woman believed the president had traced the shape of the letter "Q" with his fingers...

Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theorist Arrested in Florida

Wolfgang Halbig harassed parents of slain children

(Newser) - A Florida man obsessed with harassing the parents of murdered children has been arrested and charged with unlawful possession of the personal identification of another person. Authorities say Wolfgang Halbig—who has long claimed that the December 2012 massacre of 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School...

Alex Jones, Infowars Hit for $100K Over Sandy Hook

Judge orders conspiracy theorist to pay court costs, legal fees to family of slain Newtown boy Jesse Lewis

(Newser) - Alex Jones and his Infowars website haven't even gone to trial yet regarding a lawsuit brought against him by a Sandy Hook family, but the case has already put him nearly $130,000 in the hole, not counting his own expenses. Per the Daily Beast , in addition to an...

Giuliani to Reporter: 'I'm More of a Jew' Than George Soros

President's lawyer also calls Hungarian-born philanthropist 'a horrible human being'

(Newser) - Landing an interview with the president's lawyer over drinks results in quite the chat as Olivia Nuzzi can now attest, as her conversation with Rudy Giuliani for New York magazine got controversial even before they got to their destination. During the car ride to NYC's Mark Hotel, Giuliani...

Epstein Is 'Alive ... in the Middle East.' Oh, Really?

Conspiracy theories about the convicted sex offender refuse to die

(Newser) - At another time in history, the indictment of two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself might have served as an emphatic rebuttal to suspicions that the wealthy sex offender was actually murdered, the AP reports. Not in 2019. Conspiracy theories continued to flourish, even...

In Lawmaker's Impeachment Tweets, a 'Morbid Acrostic'

GOP Rep. Paul Gosar spelled out 'EPSTEIN DIDN'T KILL HIMSELF'

(Newser) - Politicians and lawmakers use social media for all kinds of reasons: to inform their constituents, educate the general public, air grievances , and ... post "morbid acrostics"? That's what Politico says GOP Rep. Paul Gosar's Twitter account did Wednesday as it live-tweeted the first public Trump impeachment hearing...

City Will Give You $1.1M to Prove It Doesn't Exist

There are 'no limits to creativity,' German city says

(Newser) - A German city that's been the subject of a long-running online light-hearted conspiracy theory claiming it doesn't really exist is offering big bucks to whoever proves that's true. Officials in Bielefeld said Wednesday they'll give 1 million euros—$1.1 million—to the person who delivers...

Experts Have Different Take on Epstein's Broken Neck Bones

'Actually suggests much more strongly that it was hanging'

(Newser) - Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy appears to have created more questions than answers , but one reporter says the conspiracy theories may be unnecessary. Writing for CNN Business , Oliver Darcy notes the Washington Post story that set the internet abuzz reported on Epstein's post-mortem, which found "multiple breaks in his...

Investigation Traces Seth Rich Conspiracy Back to Russia

Yahoo reports that Russian organizations concocted tale about Democratic staffer

(Newser) - Remember the Seth Rich conspiracy stories ? Back in the summer of 2016, the 27-year-old staffer for the Democratic National Committee was killed in his DC neighborhood in what police say was a botched robbery. But a wild theory quickly emerged on the right, alleging that assassins working on behalf...

Study: Most Flat Earthers Get Their 'Facts' From YouTube

'Their algorithms make it easy to end up going down the rabbit hole'

(Newser) - Researchers believe they have figured out why a growing number of people all around the world believe that the Earth is flat. Texas Tech University assistant professor of science communication Asheley Landrum says interviews with 30 "Flat Earthers" at conventions in 2017 and 2018 revealed that all but one...

Conspiracy Theorist Who Ran for Prez Is Dead at 96

Lyndon LaRouche Jr. had a long and storied life

(Newser) - Lyndon LaRouche Jr., the political extremist who ran for president in every election from 1976 to 2004, including a campaign waged from federal prison, has died. He was 96, the AP reports. LaRouche's political action committee confirmed Wednesday on its website that LaRouche died a day earlier. The cult-like...

Cubs Owner Blasted for Controversial Emails on Obama, Islam

Among others sent by Joe Ricketts

(Newser) - Splinter's "Billionaire's Inbox" offers a look at how "the other half" lives, and its most recent dive is quite the eye-opener. The news outlet got its hands on what the New York Times calls "a cache of racist emails" both sent and received by Joe...

Stories 41 - 60 | << Prev   Next >>
Most Read on Newser