President Trump promoted a baseless conspiracy theory on Tuesday alleging the Obama administration covered up a plot to stage Osama Bin Laden’s death, a wild accusation that was pushed by Twitter accounts linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump retweeted an article from an account with a history of promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory alleging “Biden and Obama may have had Seal Team 6 killed” and that Bin Laden may still be alive.
Ben Collins
@oneunderscore__
President Trump retweeted a conspiracy theory from a QAnon account today that claimed Barack Obama accidentally killed Osama Bin Laden’s body double.
The conspiracy theory also alleged Obama had Bin Laden’s body double killed.
The tweet linked to an article written by an author, Kari Donovan, who identifies as an “ex-Community Organizer” who is now “a Homeschool Mom in North Carolina” while the QAnon account who pushed the link, “Oscar the Midnight Rider 1111,” appears to have been banned from Twitter after Trump retweeted the message (the tweet is missing from Trump’s account and clicking on the user returns a message of “This Tweet is from a suspended account.”)
Late Tuesday night, Trump retweeted about the conspiracy theory again, sharing a tweet from a separate QAnon-linked account linking to a video in which Nick Noe, identified by the Daily Beast as a “conservative personality” and “father of a former Navy SEAL who died in Benghazi,” claims Hillary Clinton and Biden colluded with Iran to arrange for Bin Laden to be transferred to Pakistan for “Obama’s trophy kill…right before his re-election.”
Heshmat Alavi
@HeshmatAlavi
Replying to @HeshmatAlavi
33)
Benghazi whistleblower Nick Noe (@scienceismymuse)
-three former CIA Directors involved in keeping bin Laden alive in Iran, moved him from Iran to Pakistan for Obama’s trophy kill
-Payments to Iran were related
Full interview
As of Wednesday morning, the tweet was still active on Twitter, racking up nearly 13,000 retweets and 24,000 ‘likes’.
CHIEF CRITIC
The Biden campaign hit back at Trump for promoting the conspiracy theory, calling the president “unhinged.”
Biden | Harris War Room (Text JOE to 30330)
@BidenWarRoom
Donald Trump retweeted a conspiracy theory that President Obama & VP Biden killed Seal Team 6, and now he’s retweeting one that the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden was staged.
He is seriously unhinged.
11:28 PM · Oct 13, 2020
According to the Daily Beast, the most recent Bin Laden conspiracy theory originated from Alan Howell Parrot, a “falconer who says he uncovered secrets about Al-Qaeda, Iran, and U.S. intelligence in his work as a falconer for Middle Eastern power players.”
CRUCIAL QUOTE
Donovan, the blogger who posted the article Trump retweeted, said on Twitter she has “no proof that the Whistleblower’s claim are true.”
👠🔥 Kari Baxter Donovan🌸 🇺🇸 🏴
@Saorsa1776
For the record, anyone following my #SEALTeam6 articles, I have no proof that the Whistleblower’s claim are true, but I am suspicious, of course, I am. I also believe it should be investigated by people who are far smarter than I, and who are far more equipped to investigate.
2:28 PM · Oct 13, 2020
Robert O’Neill, a former Navy Seal who claims to be the one who actually shot and killed Bin Laden, lashed out at the president on Twitter for pushing the conspiracy theory. “It was not a body double,” O’Neill says.
Robert J. O’Neill
@mchooyah
Very brave men said goodby to their kids to go kill Osama bin Laden. We were given the order by President Obama. It was not a body double. Thank you Mr. President. Happy birthday @USNavy
10:00 AM · Oct 13, 2020