Key Trump adviser regularly promoted far-right conspiracy theories: report

A senior White House adviser at the Homeland Security Department repeatedly pushed a number of far-right conspiracy theories in radio appearances before joining the Trump administration.

CNN’s K-File reported Thursday that Frank Wuco, who is charged with helping enforce President Trump’s executive orders, regularly propagated unfounded and outlandish claims, including many about former Obama administration officials.

Among them was the claim that former President Obama’s memoir was actually penned by anti-war activist and radical Bill Ayers, as well as claims that former Attorney General Eric Holder had once been a member of the Black Panthers and that former CIA Director John Brennan had converted to Islam.{mosads}

There is no evidence to support such claims, which are widely considered false. 

Past comments by Wuco questioning where Obama was born surfaced earlier this month. The Homeland Security Department defended Wuco against criticism after those comments surfaced.

“Mr. Wuco works every day to keep the American people safe by helping to implement the President’s security-focused agenda, including raising the global bar for vetting and screening of potential terrorists,” then-acting DHS press secretary Tyler Houlton told CNN.

“Years-old comments cherry-picked from thousands of hours on the air have no bearing on his ability to perform his job for the American people.”

According to K-File, Wuco, a former conservative talk radio show host, also claimed in 2012 that the parents of Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamist group.

“Her parents were both Muslim Brotherhood,” Wuco said on a right-wing radio show. “She maintains very close ties to Muslim Brotherhood organizations here in the United States such as the Islamic Society of North America and [the Council on American-Islamic Relations].”

The claims about Abedin and her parents have been widely debunked.