'Explosive charge': Here's the far-right Jack Smith conspiracy theory used to help Trump

A new conspiracy theory about Special Counsel Jack Smith is reportedly getting ready to hit mainstream Republican discourse.

Smith, the prosecutor who charged Trump with crimes in connection with the ex-president's alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 election as well as his alleged retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, is now the victim of a disinformation scheme, according to a Mother Jones report.

"A new conspiracy theory rising on the right is being deployed to help Donald Trump," the outlet reported on Saturday. "It claims that Jack Smith, the special counsel who is prosecuting Trump for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and for his alleged swiping of classified documents, was part of a multimillion dollar extortion scheme when he was the chief prosecutor investigating and prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo."

This idea might seem outrageous, but recently it has reportedly been picking up steam in fringe groups, and has even made its way to Mike Flynn, the former national security adviser who was pardoned by Trump near the end of his presidency after pleading guilty to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Russian officials.

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"In the past two weeks, this unsubstantiated narrative has started popping up on fringe right-wing sites and social media posts. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser and QAnonish MAGA champion, haspromoted this tale," according to Mother Jones. "These allegations appear to be in the early phase of the right-wing transmission belt that propels false stories and conspiracy theories from less prominent platforms to more established conservative media and toward the mainstream—often facilitated by Republican members of Congress."

The report calls the conspiracy theory "an explosive charge," namely that "the prosecutor pursuing Trump being a power-abusing crook himself."

"But the sources for these unconfirmed allegations have told outlandish stories, and some of the promoters of this tale have track records of involvement in squirrelly endeavors to tar Trump’s political opponents," the outlet reported.

Read the full article here.