The Washington Post falsely accused retire Gen. Michael Flynn, whom President-Elect Donald Trump has selected as his national security adviser, of spreading the PizzaGate conspiracy theory. The Post made the false accusation in an article published Sunday about a gunman who walked into the restaurant targeted in the conspiracy theory, the Comet Ping Ping pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., to ‘self-investigate’ the theory. No one was hurt in the incident.

The Post said of Flynn:

The restaurant’s owner and employees were threatened on social media in the days before the election after fake news stories circulated claiming that then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief were running a child sex ring from the restaurant’s back rooms. Even Michael Flynn, a retired general who President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared the stories. None of them were true. But the fake stories and threats persisted, some even aimed at the employees’ children. The restaurant’s owner was forced to contact the FBI, local police, Facebook and other social media platforms in an effort to remove the articles. James Alefantis, the owner of Comet Ping Pong, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Sunday.”

Flynn posted on Twitter in early November a link to a blog article that wrongly claimed New York police obtained evidence of Hillary Clinton’s involvement in an underage sex-trafficking ring involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that would bring down many in the Clinton camp.

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https://twitter.com/GenFlynn/status/794000841518776320

“U decide – NYPD Blows Whistle on New Hillary Emails: Money Laundering, Sex Crimes w Children, etc…MUST READ! http://truepundit.com/breaking-bombshell-nypd-blows-whistle-on-new-hillary-emails-money-laundering-sex-crimes-with-children-child-exploitation-pay-to-play-perjury/ …”

The TruePundit article Flynn linked to has no mention of Comet Ping Pong, PizzaGate or a D.C. pedophile ring. It only has these two paragraphs to support it’s bullet-point introduction that included charges of “Child exploitation” and “Sex crimes with minors (children)”

The new emails contain travel documents and itineraries indicating Hillary Clinton, President Bill Clinton, Weiner and multiple members of Congress and other government officials accompanied convicted pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein on his Boeing 727 on multiple occasions to his private island in the U.S Virgin Islands, sources said. Epstein’s island has also been dubbed Orgy Island or Sex Slave Island where Epstein allegedly pimps out underage girls and boys to international dignitaries. Both NYPD and FBI sources confirm based on the new emails they now believe Hillary Clinton traveled as Epstein’s guest on at least six occasions, probably more when all the evidence is combed, sources said. Bill Clinton, it has been confirmed in media reports spanning recent years, that he too traveled with Epstein over 20 times to the island.”

CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski did a forensic analysis of Flynn’s Twitter feed published November 18 that has no mention of PizzaGate, only a mention and link to Flynn’s tweet that linked to the article that mentioned Jeffrey Epstein.

Sharing false or misleading news: Days before the election, Flynn tweeted a false story claiming the NYPD had found evidence on Anthony Weiner’s laptop “to put Hillary (Clinton) and her crew away for life.”

Without any evidence to support the claim, the Post and its reporters smeared Flynn online. As did other so-called reporters.

The Post’s Abby D. Phillip.

https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/805596565041778689

“Also spreading the fake story about Comet Ping Pong pizza: Trump’s new national security adviser retired Gen. Michael Flynn:”

The Post’s Matea Gold.

Flynn, a retired general who Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared the fake news stories. https://t.co/7tTa3VnIqa — Matea Gold (@mateagold) December 5, 2016

“Flynn, a retired general who Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared the fake news stories. http://wpo.st/moSJ2 “

The Wall Street Journal’s John Bussey.

https://twitter.com/johncbussey/status/805594199903076352



“Fake news, Gen. Michael Flynn, and a shooting::

“D.C. police arrest suspect with assault rifle at Comet restaurant””

Mother Jones’ David Corn.

Alex Jones, Michael Flynn & other Trump supporters pushed false Pizzagate. Today a man with gun seized at Comet Pizza. Utterly deplorable. — David Corn (@DavidCornDC) December 4, 2016

“Alex Jones, Michael Flynn & other Trump supporters pushed false Pizzagate. Today a man with gun seized at Comet Pizza. Utterly deplorable.”

Sirius-XM host Ari Rabin-Havt.

Michael Flynn needs to answer for what happened at Comet Ping Pong today https://t.co/He5VJKuF8B — Ari Rabin-Havt (@AriRabinHavt) December 5, 2016

“Michael Flynn needs to answer for what happened at Comet Ping Pong today”

Politico’s Timothy Noah.

"Even Michael Flynn…who President-elect Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared the stories." https://t.co/Eo5ThL9vE9 — Timothy Noah (@TimothyNoah1) December 5, 2016

“”Even Michael Flynn…who President-elect Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared the stories.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/12/04/d-c-police-respond-to-report-of-a-man-with-a-gun-at-comet-ping-pong-restaurant/?utm_term=.8779a1509856 …”

The Post’s Manuel Roig-Franzia.

Re. those fake stories on Comet Pizza: "Michael Flynn, @realDonaldTrump's Natl Sec adviser pick, shared the stories" https://t.co/IsRGw7cF8H — Manuel Roig-Franzia (@RoigFranzia) December 4, 2016

“Re. those fake stories on Comet Pizza: “Michael Flynn, @realDonaldTrump’s Natl Sec adviser pick, shared the stories””

The Huffington Post’s Paul Blumenthal.

This lunatic promoted the insane Comet Ping Pong conspiracy. A gunman was arrested there today. https://t.co/z10m5ugY8L — Paul Blumenthal (@PaulBlu) December 4, 2016

“This lunatic promoted the insane Comet Ping Pong conspiracy. A gunman was arrested there today. http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-flynn-tweets-hillary-clinton-2016-11 …”

AmericaBlog’s John Aravosis.

https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/805532390550552579

“1. Gen Flynn tweets about Fake HRC Comet Pizza conspiracy. 2. Comet gets threats. 3. Gunman enters Comet today. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/michael-flynn-tweets-hillary-clinton-2016-11 …”

UPDATE: The Post quietly and without apology corrected their smear of Flynn so that it now reads: “Even Michael Flynn, a retired general whom President-elect Trump has tapped to advise him on national security, shared stories about another anti-Clinton conspiracy theory involving pedophilia.”