Conspiracy theories
ABC whistleblower affidavit conspiracy
Origin
After the September 10, 2024 debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, "the former president criticized ABC News’ debate moderators, and his supporters piled on about the network's supposed bias." [3] Two days later, on September 12, 2024, Palmer "elevated [Trump's] ABC criticism with an unverified claim." [3] [4]
On September 12, 2024, Palmer tweeted, "I will be releasing an affidavit from an ABC whistleblower regarding the debate. I have just signed a non-disclosure agreement with the attorney of the whistleblower. The affidavit states how the Harris campaign was given sample question which were essentially the same questions that were given during the debate and separate assurances of fact checking Donald Trump and that she would NOT be fact checked. Accordingly, the affidavit states several other factors that were built into the debate to give Kamala a significant advantage. I have seen and read the affidavit and after the attorney blacks out the name of the whistleblower and other information that could dox the whistleblower, I will release the full affidavit. I will be releasing the affidavit before the weekend is out." [5] This was followed by a series of tweets culminating in the 6-pages of the alleged affidavit on September 14, 2024. [6]
Spread
On September 15, 2024, "billionaire investor Bill Ackman reshared viral screenshots of the affidavit, tagging Disney CEO Bob Iger and calling for answers. Ackman expressed concerns, saying, 'I find the allegations credible as written, particularly because the affidavit was reportedly made the day before the debate and mentions details, like Harris' smaller podium, that only became public later.'" [7] [8]
On September 16, 2024, in an interview with Fox Business, U.S. House Representative Dan Meuser (R-PA) cited the unconfirmed affidavit and stated his "hopes to have ABC News officials testify before the House about unfounded allegations the network worked with Vice President Kamala Harris to give her an advantage at last week’s debate against former President Donald Trump." [3] [9] [10]
On Sept. 17, 2024, ABC responded to the allegations with a statement, "ABC News followed the debate rules that both campaigns agreed on and which clearly state: No topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates." [11] [12]
Fact-checking
Fact-checking website Verify analyzed the claims and concluded that "There’s no evidence to support claims that an alleged ABC News whistleblower exists or that the affidavit they are said to have written is authentic." [13]
Poynter noted that "the affidavit the account later shared, on Sept. 15, was impossible to authenticate and made unsubstantiated claims that it provided no evidence to support. The affidavit’s author claims to have secret recordings of conversations that would prove the allegations, but those have not been released." [3]
Tim Walz sexual abuse allegations
On October 13, 2024, Palmer tweeted that "an unnamed, male former Walz student had contacted the X account in August, alleging Walz had sexually abused him in the 1990s when he was a student at Alliance High School in Nebraska." Those claims were later debunked. [14] [15] [16]
Despite the fabricated emails being debunked, right-wing conspiracy theorists continued promoting the story. Sarah Fields of The Publica (a news outlet) posted an AI video impersonating Matthew Metro, the student who claimed to have been sexually abused by Tim Walz in the debunked conspiracy theory by Palmer. [17] [18] The AI video was soon amplified by other right-wing accounts. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] The AI video was confirmed as fake by Shayan Sardarizadeh (Senior journalist at BBC Verify). [24] [18] Verify, AFP, and the Washington Post separately confirmed that the man in the video is not Matthew Metro. [20] [22] [21]
Microsoft and Darren Linvill (co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub) identified the Russian group behind the video as Storm-1516. [20] [22] [23] "The group 'consistently launders narratives through videos seeding scandalous claims from fake journalists and nonexistent whistleblowers and amplifying that disinformation via inauthentic news sites.'" [20] [22] [23]
