Asked by radio host Michael Savage about suggestions the supreme court justice was murdered, candidate points to report of pillow found on Scalia’s face

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Donald Trump has suggested there might be something to conspiracy theories doing the rounds among far-right websites that supreme court justice Antonin Scalia did not die from natural causes, as announced by the family.

Conservative talk-radio host Michael Savage asked the Republican presidential frontrunner about the conjecture that Scalia, who led the court’s conservative bloc, was murdered.

Antonin Scalia obituary Read more

“It’s a horrible topic,” said Trump, “but they say they found the pillow on his face, which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow. I can’t give you an answer ... I literally just heard it a little while ago. It’s just starting to come out now, as you know, Michael.”

“We need the equivalent of the Warren Commission and an autopsy,” Savage said, referring to the investigation into the death of John F Kennedy.

Scalia was found dead Saturday morning in his room at Cibolo Creek Ranch, a 30,000-acre luxury ranch outside Marfa, Texas, where the justice had been quail hunting.

In an interview with the San Antonio Express-News Monday, ranch owner John Poindexter said Scalia was found with a pillow on his head.

“He was seated near me and I had a chance to observe him,” Poindexter said of dinner the night before. “He was very entertaining. But about 9pm he said, ‘It’s been a long day and a long week. I want to get some sleep.’

We discovered the judge in bed, a pillow over his head. His bed clothes were unwrinkled. He was lying very restfully. It looked like he had not quite awakened from a nap.

The influential rightwing website the Drudge Report had elevated the idea with a splash headline Monday:

Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) Oh this needs to be not a thing pic.twitter.com/ThNzSM2aeg

UPDATE: CNN’s Jake Tapper passes on further comment by the ranch owner whose account of Scalia being found “in bed, a pillow over his head” set off the whole thing.

The pillow was “over his head, not his face,” the owner, John Poindexter, clarified.