CNN’s Don Lemon has what might be called a “Trumper” conspiracy theory: that White House officials “staged” an incident last week that resulted in the revocation of Jim Acosta’s press pass.

The man who said that “white men” pose the biggest terror threat in the U.S. is back in the spotlight after coming up with a conspiracy theory similar to the 9/11 “Truthers.”

Mr. Lemon told guest Burt Neuborne that Mr. Acosta fell victim to a Machiavellian plot involving a White House intern.

“I think that was staged,” Mr. Lemon said Tuesday of the incident, which saw CNN’s chief White House correspondent swipe the arm of an intern away as she tried to retrieve a microphone. “I think they played that.”

CNN filed a lawsuit Tuesday on First Amendment and Fifth Amendment grounds in an attempt to get Mr. Acosta back into the White House.

The Justice Department countered by noting the network’s stable of reporters who are free to take Mr. Acosta’s place.

“Plaintiffs have not established that the public interest is uniquely harmed by Mr. Acosta’s absence, in light of the other tenacious reporters still on the White House beat,” the department argued.

Mr. Lemon’s last foray into controversy happened in October when he told a guest that it was time to “start doing something” about the nation’s “white men” problem.

“We have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right,” Mr. Lemon said. “And we have to start doing something about them. There is no travel ban on them. There is no ban on — they had the Muslim ban. There is no white guy ban. So, what do we do about that?”

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