The woman who has been widely credited with the creation of the “liberal conspiracy theory” has – finally and definitively – been proven a fraud. According to the Guardian, Louise Mensch and her writing partner Claude Taylor published “bogus” allegations about President Donald Trump that had been fed to them by a hoaxer who claimed to work for New York Attorney General (and longtime Trump antagonist) Eric Schneiderman.

Mensch, a former British MP who moved to the US with her American husband a few years back to found the now-defunct Rupert Murdoch-backed conservative news website Heat Street, has garnered a large following (she has some 300,000 followers on Twitter) thanks to her “scoops” about the Russia investigation. Her "exclusives" have included patently false "stories" like her claim that the FBI had issued a sealed indictment for the president. She once suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin had Breitbart News founder Andrew Breitbart murdered to clear the way for Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, allowing Bannon to guide Trump to electoral victory - an assertion for which she was resoundingly mocked.

The Guardian confirmed that another one of Mensch’s claims – that Trump’s inactive fashion agency is under investigation for alleged sex trafficking – was solely sourced to the hoaxer.

“Claude Taylor tweeted fake details of criminal inquiries into Trump that were invented by a source whose claim to work for the New York attorney general was not checked, according to emails seen by the Guardian. The allegations were endorsed as authentic and retweeted by his co-writer Louise Mensch. The source’s false tips included an allegation, which has been aggressively circulated by Mensch and Taylor, that Trump’s inactive fashion model agency is under investigation by New York authorities for possible sex trafficking.”

The hoaxer said she acted out of a “frustration with fake news” after reading other obviously ridiculous reports published by Taylor and Mensch.

“The hoaxer, who fed the information to Taylor by email, said she acted out of frustration over the “dissemination of fake news” by Taylor and Mensch. Their false stories about Trump have included a claim that the president was already removed from office in a process kept secret from the American public. Taylor asked no questions to verify my identity, did no vetting whatsoever, sought no confirmation from a second source – but instead asked leading questions to support his various theories, asking me to verify them,” the source said in an email.”

Mensch’s assertions have occasionally osmosed into the mainstream media. In March, the New York Times published an op-ed by Mensch advising members of Congress on how to proceed with their investigations into Trump’s Russia ties. The op-ed came after the paper backed up her still-unverified claim that a FISA warrant had been issued to surveille the Trump Organization. As the Guardian notes, Sen. Ed Markley (D-Mass) was forced to apologize earlier this year after repeating Mensch’s claim that Trump was under investigation.

“During a television interview earlier this year, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts repeated unverified information about the inquiries into Trump and Russia that he had gleaned from Mensch’s website. He later withdrew the comment. Amy Spitalnick, a spokeswoman for Schneiderman, said in a statement that the incident highlighted the importance of using “legitimate news outlets, which know to verify their sources and their facts”

Joe Scarborough once repeated one of Taylor and Mensch’s false claims on his show, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“The bogus source first contacted Taylor by email on 20 July with an email titled “NYAG investigation”. Earlier that day, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough had quoted approvingly from an online post by Taylor, describing it as “one of the best tweets of the past month.”

Mensch and Taylor eagerly embellished the false claims fed to them by the leaker, insinuating that they knew more than the leaker had shared with them.

“After being asked by a follower for more information, Taylor claimed to know even more than the hoaxer had told him. “I have few details but apparently the possibility exists that our president has been a sex trafficker,” he said. Mensch then weighed in, reposting this false claim by Taylor and adding a vague allegation of her own that the full story was even worse. Taylor and Mensch also repeated an invented claim from the source that former president Bill Clinton knew of criminal wrongdoing by Trump’s model agency and was was preparing to testify for the prosecution. Taylor posted another series of tweets making lurid allegations about Trump’s model agency that yet again matched invented claims supplied to him in emails from the hoaxer.”

The Guardian published the contents of the hoaxer’s emails with Taylor alongside Taylor and Mensch’s tweets about the false claims, which neither of them bothered to try and verify (note the liberal use of the hashtag #PIMPOTUS).

From NYAG Schneiderman source, "I am aware of at least one sealed indictment targeting multiple Trump Organization Principals". — Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) July 22, 2017

Schneiderman is moving https://t.co/sseoG0yKw9 — Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) July 22, 2017

On all three. Many Russian nationals are also among the targets as are other Trump family members. — Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) July 23, 2017

I have few details but apparently the possibility exists that our president has been a sex trafficker. That's frowned upon. https://t.co/SFScjkaLlK — Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) July 22, 2017

From Schneiderman source on money laundering case. Targets include Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka, Jared & Trump Sr, Felix Sater & 15 Rus nationals. — Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) July 28, 2017

Just in case you needed another reminder - don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

