‘Malicious lies’: Republican senator arrested after being caught posting far-right false information

On Friday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) amplified a baseless and debunked claim that President Joe Biden suffered a medical issue aboard Air Force One. Now, the senator is facing criticism for his tweet from reporters and commentators.

Yesterday at 7:41 PM EST, far-right activist Laura Loomer tweeted, “Joe Biden is currently reportedly having a medical emergency on Air Force One” and that “press access has been removed.” However, this was quickly debunked by X/Twitter’s Community Notes feature, which reported that Biden “did NOT have a medical emergency on Air Force One after the Wisconsin rally and was perfectly fine throughout the entire trip…and exited alone after landing in Delaware.”

In response, Lee tweeted: “If Biden is in a medical emergency right now – on Air Force One or elsewhere – it raises… a lot of questions.” That tweet, posted last night at 8:09 p.m. ET, is still live on his official account.

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Sophie Hills, a White House reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, provided further clarification on the president’s health at the time of Loomer’s initial tweet, writing that he had stepped off Air Force One at 7:34 p.m. and then left with his motorcade, stopping at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, at 7:50 p.m. That means Biden was already home about 20 minutes before Lee sent his tweet.

Former Trump administration official Monica Crowley also tweeted Loomer’s lie, only to walk back her remarks and later tweet that there were “conflicting reports about Biden on AF1 but appear to be false.”

Lee’s amplification of Loomer’s fake “medical emergency” sparked a furious backlash on social media. Civil rights attorney Leslie Proll called the Utah Republican’s tweet “unconscionable.” Biden campaign adviser James Singer accused him of “publishing lies.” And Joe Perticone, a contributor to the conservative anti-Trump website Bulwark, pointed out the absurdity of a sitting U.S. senator relying on disinformation artists to get his information.

“What is most disturbing about the judgment and intelligence of a United States senator is that he believes he would first hear something this important from… Monica Crowley and Laura Loomer,” Perticone wrote.

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Former WGN reporter Jennifer Schulze also sharply criticized Lee and urged the media to “take a moment to cover this story of a sitting United States senator spreading malicious lies about the president.”

“I know this is routine for Republicans, but it’s still newsworthy,” she tweeted.

Reporter Jamie Dupree noted the time difference between Lee’s tweet and the time in the pool report when Biden was picked up by the presidential motorcade and taken home.

“Sen. Mike Lee R-UT tweeted baseless medical rumors about Biden tonight. In fact, Biden was already back home (covered at 7:56pm) by the time Lee hit the send button,” Dupree posted.

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