Donald Trump Jr. falsely claimed that former British spy Christopher Steele had backed out of testifying -- and other social media users shamed his bogus statement.
Steele, who authored the salacious dossier detailing President Donald Trump's links to Russia, had been scheduled to deliver a video lecture on disinformation next week at the Reawakening the Spirit of Democracy Conference in Baltimore, but then got "cold feet" and canceled, reported Politico.
The president's son tweeted a link to a report on Steele's cancellation, which was more or less accurately aggregated by the alt-right adjacent ZeroHedge website, and misleadingly claimed the former MI6 officer had been set to testify before some unspecified body.
"Perhaps Steele was 'spooked' by testimony last week from former Trump attorney Michael Cohen," wrote the pseudonymous blogger Tyler Durden for ZeroHedge, "who debunked a key claim in the dossier that he traveled to Prague in August 2016 to meet with Kremlin officials in order to arrange clandestine payments to hackers who stole emails from the Clinton campaign and the DNC."
Weird that all of a sudden the Fake Dossier author (paid for by Hillary and the DNC etc) no longe wants to show up… https://t.co/lVBcUm0u0D— Donald Trump Jr. (@Donald Trump Jr.) 1551826627.0
Other Twitter users called out the president's son for spreading phony claims.
so 1) this wasn't going to be a testimony. and 2) Steele has submitted written testimony to the Senate Intelligence… https://t.co/dMPpgPqr3k— Natasha Bertrand (@Natasha Bertrand) 1551883110.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr @realDonaldTrump Did either of you two geniuses bother to read the article? “Former MI6 spy Christ… https://t.co/2XZZBzKCNf— Bruce Lindner (@Bruce Lindner) 1551872677.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr That's a great, legitimate article you got there, written by: *squints adjust glasses* Tyler Durden… https://t.co/RlZb0Bzm98— rickatoni🌹 (@rickatoni🌹) 1551833362.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr You just confirmed Cohen’s testimony as true if that’s why Steele backed out. Think, McFly.— Dave Central (@Dave Central) 1551878998.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr So wait, is Cohen a liar who can’t be trusted, or is he the guy whose testimony destroys the dossie… https://t.co/pqDw9oGzgt— centeredwarrior (@centeredwarrior) 1551878667.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr @realDonaldTrump Something has y’all spooked tonight, huh?— Julie Lawrence🌊🌊🌊 (@Julie Lawrence🌊🌊🌊) 1551847671.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr Not many straws left to grasp at, Junior.— Dan Davis (@Dan Davis) 1551885368.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr Do you know how to read? The scheduled appearance was by video at a pro-democracy event; nothing about him testifying!— Michael Griffin (@Michael Griffin) 1551885223.0
@DonaldJTrumpJr “Show up.” He didn’t back out of traveling here or giving testimony. Steele was supposed to do a vi… https://t.co/duIc59lMo3— Counterchekist (@Counterchekist) 1551885995.0
