Pro-Trump media figures have gone as far as to falsely suggest that the Russian attorney may have planted a listening device for the Obama administration.

Right-wing outlets, pro-Trump media personalities, and conspiracy theorists are falsely claiming that the attorney who met with Donald Trump Jr. during the 2016 campaign was a left-wing operative trying to torpedo a future Trump administration. The claim, which was first published Tuesday evening on a website that often circulates inaccurate information, gained significant traction and pickup the following day from more mainstream right-wing outlets. By Thursday, President Trump himself had parroted parts of the conspiracy theory at a news conference in Paris. The conspiracy theory is an apparent attempt to upend the latest political firestorm facing the Trump administration — a frequent tactic used by the pro-Trump media to try to discredit reporting from credible news outlets that is critical of the president and push the claim that the media is suppressing the real story. Between Saturday and Tuesday, the New York Times published a series of articles about a meeting Trump Jr. took with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya. To preempt the Tuesday story, Trump Jr. himself released emails showing him eagerly accepting campaign help from people he was told were agents of the Russian government. (Several federal authorities are investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.) Outlets and personalities pushing the conspiracy theory have tried to link Veselnitskaya to Hillary Clinton, Republican Sen. John McCain, and the Obama administration as some sort of nefarious plot to plant listening devices in Trump Tower. Like most conspiracy theories, much of the allegation was based on facts that were taken out of context along with a pair of Facebook posts where the peddlers either failed to translate from the original Russian — or willfully ignored those translations. Conservative personalities like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity also jumped into the fray, with Limbaugh proclaiming that "the whole thing's a setup."

Here's what seemed to spark it all: this photo, which was included in a tweet from a CNN reporter and an article from the Washington Post, both published Tuesday. Hey, look what I found. Veselnitskaya sitting behind @McFaul at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Russia, June… https://t.co/LD29HCkLQ5

The Washington Post article was about Veselnitskaya's work fighting US sanctions against Russia. The photo was taken on June 14, 2016 — just a few days after Trump Jr.'s meeting with Veselnitskaya on June 9, 2016 — when she was at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington about “U.S. Policy Toward Putin’s Russia.” The photo from the hearing shows Veselnitskaya seated directly behind former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, an Obama appointee, as he testifies. (A top Russian opposition activist, Ilya Yashin, is also in the photo.)

Soon the photo was picked up by Gateway Pundit, a website that often publishes inaccurate information . Its story presented the photo as evidence of a connection between the lawyer and the Obama administration and falsely claimed that Veselnitskaya was "sitting with" McFaul. Screenshot

Then the Drudge Report picked up the Gateway Pundit story, and it was off to the races. Screenshot

Then WikiLeaks — with its nearly 5 million followers — fanned the flames, tweeting the image early Wednesday morning. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at hearing on Russia left of Obama's @McFaul eight days after @donaldjtrumpjr… https://t.co/FCVD1gp4Ec

Right-wing personalities began quickly picking up on the image, suggesting that Veselnitskaya was "pictured with" or "hanging out" with Obama administration officials just days after the meeting with Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort. Natalia Veselnitskaya Pictured With Obama Administration in DC after Donald Trump Jr Meeting 🤔 https://t.co/hTYEuPxU47

The hearing was public, and its topic was US policy toward Russia, an issue that Veselnitskaya would have likely been interested in given her reported ties to the Kremlin and her public outreach against the Magnitsky Act, which was signed by President Obama and reportedly infuriated President Vladimir Putin. The act punishes Russian officials accused of human rights abuses. (The hearing also was the day after an anti-Magnitsky film backed by Veselnitskaya was screened in DC at the Newseum.) Although she is sitting in the front row of the hearing behind McFaul, there is no indication that she was there with McFaul.

After seeing the WikiLeaks tweet, McFaul said he did not know who Veselnitskaya was until news of her meeting with Trump Jr. was reported this week. I never met her. Had no idea who she was until yesterday. Not even sure what conspiracy line you're trying to push… https://t.co/VvGItUvhjN McFaul told BuzzFeed News that he does not know Veselnitskaya. "I have never met her. I did not know who she was until a few days ago," he said in an email. "As a witness, I don't control the seats in the hearing. (She was sitting right next to my sons)."

McFaul noted that Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and recently said Rohrabacher attended a dinner at which Veselnitskaya was also present. Aaron P. Bernstein / Reuters A spokesman for Rohrabacher told BuzzFeed News that while he didn't invite Veselnitskaya to the hearing, he was introduced to her the next day when she appeared at the Capitol Hill Club — a private social club for Republicans — for dinner. Rohrabacher initially told BuzzFeed News on Thursday that his staff didn't invite her either. When asked how she ended up at the hearing, he said, “Well, she heard about it, and she wanted to come... these are open hearings.” When asked again if he or his staff had extended the invitation, he said, “Not that I know of. I don’t know of anything. I wouldn’t have recognized her, and, uh, you know, I don’t know her." He added, "I know she was at a dinner table that, where there were 20 people, and this is over at the Capitol Hill Club, it might have been the night of that thing, and she was at the table, at least that’s what I’m told. I wouldn’t even know her if I saw her.” Ken Grubbs, Rohrabacher's press secretary, said in an email, "The hearing was a public meeting, and we’re guessing she was among the first in line and took the seat on her own volition." A spokeswoman for the committee told BuzzFeed News that Veselnitskaya “did not attend with the invitation or knowledge of the committee” and noted that the hearing was open to the public. Asked about her seat in the front row of the hearing, they said the seating arrangements were “first come, first served.”

Another piece of the conspiracy theory seemed to originate with Mark Corallo, a spokesman for President Donald Trump's outside legal counsel. He said the Russian attorney was linked to Fusion GPS, a DC-based opposition research firm known for commissioning a dossier — published by BuzzFeed News — containing salacious allegations, without providing any actual evidence, that Trump has deep ties to Russia. The administration has said the contents of the dossier, which was circulated at the highest levels of government, are false. But the people and sites peddling the conspiracy don't provide any actual evidence linking Veselnitskaya to Fusion GPS. And in a statement to BuzzFeed News, Fusion GPS denied having any involvement in setting up the meeting between Veselnitskaya and Trump's inner circle. "Fusion GPS learned about this meeting from news reports and had no prior knowledge of it," the statement read. "Any claim that Fusion GPS arranged or facilitated this meeting in any way is absolutely false." Veselnitskaya was representing Prevezon — a Cyprus company owned by a Russian national that is accused in the US of laundering money — at the same time Fusion GPS was doing work for a law firm that did work for Prevezon, according to the Washington Post.

On Wednesday morning, a picture that Veselnitskaya posted to her Facebook page years ago purportedly linking her to Republican Sen. John McCain — a major Trump critic — began circulating online. Natalia Veselnitskaya posted a pic from inside McCain's office in Dec 2015

The rumor prompted McCain to respond to the allegation, pointing out that *his own office* posted the original picture. FAKE NEWS ALERT: There's a fake news story circulating online today - I correct the record on my Facebook page here… https://t.co/D7QKpXlYGB

In a statement posted on Facebook, the Arizona senator said the photo was of himself and Mark Feygin, a Russian lawyer who has taken on cases of people opposed to Putin. "Natalia Veselnitskaya did not attend that meeting, but apparently posted the photo of Mark and me to her Facebook page in December 2015 – months after Mark and I met," McCain said in the statement. Veselnitskaya’s own Facebook post clearly states she took the photo from Feygin’s Facebook page. In the post, Veselnitskaya is critical of Feygin, alleges he approached her with an unethical proposal to drop a case in the US, and says he has “known Russophobia and the desire to participate in any action against Russia.”

Despite the clarification, many have continued to share the screenshot of Veselnitskaya's Facebook post, suggesting that she was meeting with McCain in DC, and fanning allegations that she was, at the very least, anti-Trump. Screenshot

New-right blogger and occasional conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich made a video on Wednesday suggesting that the Russian attorney was a plant by Democrats, and wondering if she helped Obama "spy on Trump Tower." Was meeting with @DonaldJTrumpJr set up as way to wire tap Trump tower? This could be HUGE break in Obama spying st… https://t.co/0QoWjoOT3r

Suggestions that former President Obama "bugged" or "wiretapped" Trump Tower — a conspiracy theory peddled by President Trump himself — have been widely debunked. Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, former FBI Director James Comey said there was "no information" to support the claim that Trump was wiretapped at the direction of the Obama administration. And former US intelligence chief James Clapper also said there was no effort, nor a court order issued, to wiretap Trump Tower or Donald Trump.

"I think the whole thing's a setup," Limbaugh said on his radio show Wednesday. "I think the whole thing is a misdirection play." View this post on Facebook Facebook: RushLimbaugh

Fox News host Sean Hannity posted a story linking Veselnitskaya to Fusion GPS , a "group hired by Democrats." Screenshot As of Thursday afternoon, the story did not include Fusion GPS's statement refuting claims that it had anything to do with the meeting with Trump Jr. GotNews proclaimed in a headline, "Busted, Lawyer Meeting With @DonaldJTrumpJr Tied to Debunked Trump-Russia Dossier."

Infowars also tried to link Veselnitskaya to its favorite conspiracy theory go-tos: billionaire George Soros and the "deep state." Natalia Veselnitskaya Is A Soros Mole / Deep State Anti-Trump Operative

Trump supporters, members of the alt-right and new-right, and conspiracy theorists also began sharing images posted on Veselnitskaya's Facebook page, suggesting that she had attended anti-Trump rallies. The Russian lawyer at the center of the Trump Jr. controversy posted photos from anti-Trump rallies - https://t.co/v5yfFOtsAE #NeverTrump

But a BuzzFeed News translation of her comments on the images show that Veselnitskaya did not attend the rallies, and was instead being critical of them. "It's all about abortions, homosexuality, illegal immigration and two presidents," she wrote in Russian. "Whatever the order is, but for those who don't understand — that's what's called 'human rights.'"

Despite those facts, many pro-Trump conspiracy theorists continued to allege that Veselnitskaya attended the rallies as an anti-Trump protester. Russian lawyer attended anti-Trump protest. Was she a deep state/Dem honey trap all along? https://t.co/xKqk474VVW Facebook: NataliaVeselnitskaya

A Fox Business host also retweeted a suggestion that McCain and Clinton were behind the meeting in order to plant a listening device on Trump, saying, "That was my thought." Screenshot

Liz Claman later deleted the tweet, saying, "I was only noting Soviet-era behavior. I tend to tune out conspiracy theories." On Wednesday morning, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley asked on the Fox News morning show Fox and Friends how Veselnitskaya entered the country to meet with Trump Jr., noting that she had been previously denied a visa. Grassley said Veselnitskaya had been allowed entry to the US in 2015, but her "parole" entry would have expired in January 2016, months before the meeting in Trump Tower. The Hill then published a story suggesting it was "the Obama Justice Department" that allowed Veselnitskaya into the country before meeting with Trump Jr.

Hours later, Trump supporters suggested it was not only the Justice Department, but falsely assert it was former Attorney General Loretta Lynch herself who authorized Veselnitskaya's entry to the US. Why Did Loretta Lynch Grant Trump Jr's Russian Lawyer A Special Visa To Enter America? https://t.co/3biWzaSHel

#BREAKING: Chief Russia Colluder Obama and Loretta Lynch Directly Ordered Special Visa to Russian Lawyer to Set Up… https://t.co/od2hjf6aoc

By Thursday morning, the conspiracy theory was being embraced by major right-wing news outlets. Screenshot

And made its way to President Trump's mouth — first at a formal press conference in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, and later in a conversation with reporters that was published Thursday evening. Trump says Russian attorney who met with his son was in US because of AG Lynch, feeding conspiracy theory she was p… https://t.co/YCGfYIuoi6 “Somebody said that her visa or her passport to come into the country was approved by Attorney General Lynch,” Trump said alongside Macron. “Now, maybe that’s wrong. I just heard that a little while ago," he continued. "So she was here because of Lynch." In a statement issued after the press conference, however, Lynch disputed the president's claim, saying she had nothing to do with Veselnitskaya's travels in the US. "Attorney General Lynch, as the former head of the Justice Department, does not have any personal knowledge of Ms. Veselnitskaya's travel," Robert Raben, her spokesperson, said. "The State Department issues visas, and the Department of Homeland Security oversees entry to the United States at airports." DHS officials confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Thursday night it was the State Department who had issued a visa to Veselnitskaya in June 2016, before she met with Trump Jr. Veselnitskaya was issued an immigration parole document by DHS in 2015 that expired in February 2016, agency officials said. She was then issued a B1/B2 nonimmigrant visa in June by the State Department, allowing her to fly into the US before her meeting at Trump Tower on June 9. Trump had already echoed parts of the theory to the White House press pool in off-record comments that were later placed on record. Speaking with reporters, Trump said Veselnitskaya had been "surrounded by" congressmen, a comment that appeared to hint at the claim that Veselnitskaya had been at the House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting with other lawmakers. “But what about all the congressmen, where I see the woman sitting there surrounded by — in Congress,” Trump said, according to a pool report.

And on Thursday night, Veselnitskaya acknowledged Cernovich's video in a Twitter post, saying, "BREAKING! 'Russian Spy' Natalia Veselnitskaya has attended anti-Trump rallies!" BREAKING! "Russian Spy" Natalia Veselnitskaya has attended anti-Trump rallies! https://t.co/FELxubLx1L She seemed to be mocking the video, but she has also seemingly retweeted Cernovich in earnest in the past.