Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Donald Trump's Own Justice Department Just Smacked Down One of His Favorite Conspiracy Theories

Donald Trump's Own Justice Department Just Smacked Down One of His Favorite Conspiracy Theories
U.S. President Donald Trump and Dept. of Justice head, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)

Conspiracy theorist in chief.

President Donald Trump received criticism on more than one occasion while on the campaign trail about repeating the conspiracy theories he hears on his preferred media outlets: Fox & Friends, Alex Jones' Info Wars, Gateway Pundit and Steve Bannon's (formerly) Breitbart.

Once he became president, Trump still repeats false claims even after they are easily disproven. Especially when they can be used to deflect from his own very real legal woes and legitimate administration scandals.


Rarely does anyone from his own administration correct his misinformation. But the Attorney General Jeff Sessions led Department of Justice (DoJ) just did.

Back in April, Trump posted a tweet about an ongoing DoJ case, trying to deflect from the information coming out after the FBI raided his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen's, home and office. The raid was part of an open investigation into potential illegal activity by the New York federal prosecutor's office,  a division of Trump's DoJ.

Trump, after his claim that the raid proved due process was dead, tried to shift focus from himself to the Democratic Party and the prosecution of DNC staffer Imran Awan, who is a "Pakistani mystery man" according to the president.

In a rambling tweet, Trump threw accusations at a host of characters: "Obstructionist Democrats", Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the "DNC Server", "Clinton Emails" and "Documents held by the Pakistani mystery man."

Then again in June, Trump brought up Imran Awan again, by name. At the time, Trump was dealing with the fallout from a trade war he started, the off-again/on-again North Korean summit and continued revelations from the Mueller Russia investigation.

The president cried foul to the idea of a DNC staffer receiving a plea agreement from the DoJ. This was after several of Trump's own campaign and administration members reached plea agreements during the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and ties to the Trump campaign.

Tuesday, the Justice Department finally responded with a special note in their plea deal with Awan. It states:

Particularly, the Government has found no evidence that your client illegally removed House data from the House network or from House Members’ offices, stole the House Democratic Caucus Server, stole or destroyed House information technology equipment, or improperly accessed or transferred government information, including classified or sensitive information."

The federal prosecutors note addresses all of the claims in several conspiracy theories about Awan and the DNC. Theories the president repeated.

The note has no bearing on the plea deal and is unrelated to any charges brought against Awan. Their only purpose appears to be to get the truth out there and refute any lies still being told.

The Trump DoJ shares a sometimes volatile relationship with the president. Trump frequently takes to social media to call their legal investigations witch hunts and fake news.

So the DoJ took the opportunity to publicly set the record straight on at least one of their cases.

The intended target of the DoJ note was not missed by social media.

Will this lead to a new era of Trump administration officials telling the truth even if their boss doesn't? Probably not. But it does show some folks in the trenches have decided to speak up.

More from People/donald-trump

Screenshot of Stephen Colbert
CBS

Stephen Colbert Makes Somber Plea To Americans In Wake Of Charlie Kirk's Death

Late-night host Stephen Colbert had a somber message for Americans as he addressed the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk, stressing that "political violence only leads to more political violence."

Kirk died after an unidentified gunman shot him in the neck as he—ironically enough—mocked victims of gun violence at an event in Utah Valley State University. Kirk's murder has galvanized the far-right, with President Donald Trump and his surrogates claiming without evidence that rhetoric from Democrats is responsible for Kirk's death.

Keep ReadingShow less
a woman sunbathing on rocks.
a person sitting on a towel on a beach
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

People Share The Weirdest Flexes They Heard Someone Say With A Straight Face

It is never attractive to gloat.

Even so, some people can't help but brag, or "flex" as it is sometimes known, about certain accomplishments or attributes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @thedowntheredoc's TikTok video
@thedowntheredoc/TikTok

TikToker Hilariously Calls Out Target After Champion Pants Feature Awkwardly-Placed Front Pleat

Sometimes you can just tell when something was designed *for* women, but was not actually designed *by* women.

Take, for instance, the new pleated pants available at Target from the Champion clothing line. While there's nothing wrong with pleated pants and they certainly have a suitable spot in the workplace, the latest rendition of Champion pleated pants are, shall we say, NSFW.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kaicutch's Instagram video
@kaicutch/Instagram

Woman Flips Her Car After Belting Out Ironic Britney Spears Lyric In Wild Viral Video

Whether we want to admit it or not, we've all had our fair share of carpool karaoke and maybe even imagined our car as our own personal recording studio.

But TikToker and Instagrammer Kaitlynn McCutcheon may have gotten too into her performance of Britney Spears' classic, "Hit Me Baby, One More Time," when the road and her car both said, "Bet."

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from ​@lynnshazeen's TikTok video
@lynnshazeen/TikTok

Woman Goes Viral After Revealing How Her Obsession With Matcha Landed Her In The Hospital

Let's be honest: Too much of anything isn't good for us. It's all about the balance!

But the media and social media trends have taught us that certain things are really good for us, encouraging us to be like the "very mindful and very demure" girls and take care of ourselves. One such example is drinking more matcha, especially if you really like coffee or think you have a caffeine addiction.

Keep ReadingShow less