Donald Trump Jr walloped for trying to smear woman who gave husband fish tank cleaner

Donald Trump Jr. boosted a conspiracy theory smearing a woman as a murderer to shield his father from blame in her husband's death.

The couple ingested fish tank cleaner, which contains a chemical touted by President Donald Trump as a possible treatment for the coronavirus, and initial news reports about the man's death and his wife's hospitalization cast blame on the president.

The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization Sunday for malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, which Trump had called a treatment despite extremely limited evidence of its effectiveness.

The 61-year-old woman, who is reportedly a Democratic donor and not a big Trump fan, said she and her 68-year-old husband ingested some chloroquine they found in their pantry, but it was not in medicine form and not safe for human consumption.

The president's eldest son retweeted a link from a right-leaning conspiracy theory account that posted screen shots of a purported deposition the woman gave in 2012 claiming a history of mental illness and a desire to divorce her husband, with the apparent implication that she murdered him years later and blamed the president.

Other social media users blasted Trump Jr. for attempting to smear the woman based on flimsy evidence.