Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager for Donald Trump and current commentator for CNN, on Wednesday tried to discredit the author of a story detailing the extensive conflicts Trump would face if he were elected president.
Lewandowski claimed that the author of the report, Kurt Eichenwald, said that former President George W. Bush was connected to the Sept. 11 attacks.
“This is the same individual who said that he has information that George W. Bush was directly related to the 9/11 terrorist attack. This is the same individual who refused to fact check this story with the Trump organization,” Lewandowski said on CNN, where he is a paid contributor even though he is still advising the Trump campaign.
Later in the segment, CNN’s Alisyn Camerota came back to Lewandowski’s claim and pointed out that it was false. Eichenwald had written that Bush ignored warnings of a terrorist attack before Sept. 11, not that he was involved in the attacks.
Despite being presented with the facts, Lewandowski was undeterred. “I don’t know, is that true or not?,” he asked. Christine Quinn, who was appearing with Lewandowski, correctly pointed out that the 9/11 Commission did find that Bush had been warned of a potential attack.
Still, Lewandowski tried to weaken Eichenwald’s credibility.
“He makes the intimation at least that George W. Bush allowed this to happen,” he said, as Camerota and Quinn pointed out that wasn’t Eichenwald’s suggestion at all.
Trump fired Lewandowski in June, but the onetime campaign manager was still being paid for his services in July. In August, ABC reported that Lewandowski had his access restored to restricted Secret Service areas at Trump events.
Lewandowski’s attack on Eichenwald is rich given Trump’s own penchant for trafficking in conspiracy theories. Trump falsely claimed to have seen thousands of Muslims cheering after Sept. 11 and famously ― incorrectly ― claimed that President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States. Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who believes 9/11 was an inside job, has boasted about personally advising Trump. The Trump campaign has not addressed the veracity of that claim.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
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