Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday made an explosive, unfounded claim about an explosive, unfounded rumor about an explosive, unidentified person before — like most X users who spread the claim — quickly having to walk back or retract it.
Greene, in a post on X at just after 8 AM in D.C., cited “news reports” to claim that a supposed ABC whistleblower set to expose collusion between the network and the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris had died.
“The ABC whistleblower who claimed Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of the debate has died in a car crash according to news reports,” she said.
The supposed whistleblower has been touted for days on X and other social media, including prominently on Truth Social by Donald Trump , who believes ABC News is “under investigation” for the debate, which he continues to claim was unfair and rigged while also saying he won.
About three hours, 9,000 retweets, and many conspiracy theories about Democrats killing people after sharing the erroneous rumor, Greene posted a follow-up that the story “appears to be false.”
“This story appears to be false and I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “We need a serious investigation into the whistleblower’s report that Kamala Harris was given debate questions ahead of time from ABC!”
The fake news Greene spread came from an AI-generated website, as it turns out. But although it was enough to convince Greene to cite it as a “news source” it failed even to fool conspiracy theory clearinghouse The Gateway Pundit, which not only did not buy the story but warned readers that the site that was the source of the congresswoman’s claim is in fact spreading a virus.
“WARNING: This website is contaminated with a virus!” the site wrote on Sunday. “It’s clear to us that this is a complete hoax.”
But not so clear to many hundreds of other MAGA users on X. One post on Saturday evening that went bigger than most, to the tune over over 14k retweets, ended up getting a community note added.
ABC News has unequivocally denied the claims behind all this that Harris was given debate questions in advance.
“Absolutely not,” an ABC News spokesperson told reporters. “Harris was not given any questions before the debate.”
Find more on the continuing reaction to and fallout from the debate here .
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Marjorie Taylor Greene Has to Walk Back False Claim an ‘ABC News Whistleblower’ Was Killed in a Fiery Car Wreck first appeared on
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