Former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren came under fire on Saturday for purportedly trying to "bury her role" in the spreading of a Donald Trump-based conspiracy theory.
Van Susteren, more recently host for the conservative Newsmax TV, took to social media after Judge Juan Merchan informed the parties in Trump's criminal case that a suspicious Facebook comment appeared to suggest the jury had been corrupted. The so-called internet troll at the center of the scandal later admitted it was all made up.
But before that admission, Van Susteren presented a printed copy of Merchan's notice.
"Wow!! This is BIG TROUBLE," she wrote at the time.
HuffPost reporter Yashar Ali flagged the commitment to the hoax even offline.
"While most of Fox News and even many Trump people were skeptical of the facebook comment, attorney and militant Scientologist Greta Van Susteren went with it like it was a major breaking news story," Ali wrote on Saturday. "She said 'if true,' and 'not a hoax,' but it’s the commitment to the verdict being vacated and her tone that are the issue. Even Pete Hegseth didn’t jump on it like this!"
Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger noticed something odd after the admission did come out.
"This morning [Van Susteren] has posted dozens of off topic tweets in order to bury her role in spreading the misinformation about the NY jury yesterday instead of admitting her mistake. Typical," the ex-lawmaker wrote.
Authoritarian expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat responded to that claim, saying it is "yet another use for the 'flood the zone' strategy."
"Congressman, what is your problem? I posted the Judge’s letter where he reported the FB post. When did you get snarky?" Van Susteren asked in response. "I am surprised by you - I have had many good interviews with you over the years. I hope this was posted by staff and not you."
She added in a separate post, "My experience with [Kinzinger] over the years was one of mutual respect - not sure why he got snarky with me."
"The FB posting (reported by the judge) IS trouble whether true or crazy (disruptive of our judicial system that is already under fire by people)," she added.
Kinzinger then replied, "Same experience Greta. But misinformation is literally rotting political discourse, especially from someone with a good reputation. That said, let’s both strive to report truth and let the chips fall."