Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu referenced a false CNN report Friday to allege collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“Trump’s own CIA Director stated Wikileaks acts like a ‘hostile intelligence service.’ Russia used Wikileaks against democracies. Now we know [President Donald Trump] & Donald Trump Jr. & others in Trump campaign were given access to hacked documents on Wikileaks,” Lieu tweeted. “Sure looks like collusion.”
Lieu’s tweet came in response to a since-corrected CNN report that said then-candidate Trump, his son Trump Jr., and others on the Trump campaign received access to WikiLeaks documents on Sept. 4, before the documents were released publicly. (RELATED: CNN Botches Major ‘Bombshell’ Alleging Contacts Between Don Jr. And WikiLeaks)
However, the email was actually sent on Sept. 14, which CNN has since acknowledged.
This date change is significant as WikiLeaks tweeted on Sept. 13 the same archive of Democratic National Committee documents that was emailed to the Trump campaign.
A spokesman for Lieu did not respond to a press inquiry.
The California Democrat has been one of the most aggressive congressmen when it comes to pushing unproven theories.
“You don’t need to be a prosecutor to know that someone writing NO FOUL PLAY WHATSOEVER in connection with a death seems awfully suspicious,” Lieu tweeted in July about the suicide of Republican operative Peter Smith, who committed suicide after speaking to the Wall Street Journal about attempts to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Lieu also suggested in March that Trump could be guilty of treason, a crime punishable by death.