Rep. Steve King (R-IA) falsely suggested in a tweet that Alexander Soros, the son of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, is the alleged whistleblower whose complaint sparked the current House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. The tweet -- which was also shared by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) -- came after the falsity had spread on social media and on a prominent far-right message board.

On November 14, King -- who has a history of embracing far-right and white nationalist figures and rhetoric -- tweeted a collage of four images of Alexander Soros with 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), current Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), writing above the images, “Adam Schiff said, ‘I do not know the identity of the whistleblower.’ @RepAdamSchiff here are four strong clues.” (The collage had been previously used as part of the ongoing right-wing attacks on George Soros, who has been the target of anti-Semitic smears for years.) King has since deleted the tweet, and both George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and Alexander Soros criticized King for the false accusation.