Liberal conspiracy theorists smeared a woman as a white supremacist and neo-Nazi on Tuesday because she folded her arms while sitting behind Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
The woman, Zina Gelman Bash, is a former Kavanaugh clerk who previously worked in President Donald Trump’s administration and now serves in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s administration.
Far from being a secret white nationalist, Bash has a Mexican mother and a Jewish father and her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, according to a source working with Kavanaugh’s confirmation team.
Bash is “the granddaughter of Polish Jews who just barely escaped the death camps,” Daily Beast reporter Lachlan Markay similarly noted.
But liberal conspiracy theorists seized upon a misleading viral video clip to falsely label the Harvard-educated lawyer a “Nazi.”
Twitter user Keith R. Dumas posted a video accusing Bash of secretly flashing a “white power sign” — the “OK sign — while folding her arms during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. The video topped 1.1 million views in less than four hours.
Who is she? What’s up with the white power sign? @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/VUU9QsFdXW
— Keith R. Dumas (@rubin_kd) September 4, 2018
Other Twitter users, including many verified by Twitter as public figures, identified Bash as the woman in Dumas’ video. (RELATED: Majority Of Democratic Voters Believe A Straight-Up Conspiracy Theory)
“The woman sitting behind Kavanaugh giving what appears to be a white supremacist ‘Pepe’ salute has been identified as Zina Bash, member of Trump’s transition, domestic policy, and now SCOTUS team,” wrote Tommy Christopher, a writer for George Soros-funded website Shareblue.
Still others went even further, calling her a “Nazi” because of the way she folded her hands.
“This neo-nazi is Zina Bash. She’s intentionally throwin up White Power signs at a Supreme Court Justice confirmation hearing,” falsely claimed Kelly Mantle, an actor and former contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“Zina Bash, who worked for Kavanaugh, quietly flashing the white power sign,” wrote author Jamie Ford. “Welcome to the dystopia, folks.”
Bash’s husband, U.S. Attorney John Bash, sharply criticized the conspiracy theories about his wife.
“The attacks today on my wife are repulsive. Everyone tweeting this vicious conspiracy theory should be ashamed of themselves. We weren’t even familiar with the hateful symbol being attributed to her for the random way she rested her hand during a long hearing,” he wrote.
“Zina is Mexican on her mother’s side and Jewish on her father’s side. She was born in Mexico. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. We of course have nothing to do with hate groups, which aim to terrorize and demean other people — never have and never would,” John Bash continued.
“Some of the Twitter comments have even referred to our baby daughter. I know that there are good folks on both sides of the political divide. I hope that people will clearly condemn this idiotic and sickening accusation.”
This story has been updated to include John Bash’s response.
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