Elon Musk deletes tweet linking conspiracy theory to Paul Pelosi attack

Elon Musk on Sunday deleted a tweet he posted earlier in the day espousing a conspiracy theory about an assault on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Musk had shared a link to an article detailing a right-wing conspiracy about the circumstances of the attack, which drew wide condemnation, from a website known for repeatedly publishing stories that are false.

Those past stories include a claim in 2016 that Clinton had died during that year’s presidential campaign and that a body double was sent to debate then GOP-candidate Donald Trump.

After a 42-year-old man allegedly broke into the Speaker’s San Francisco home on Friday and shouted “where’s Nancy” before assaulting her husband with a hammer, the website tweeted by Musk published an article casting doubt on the local police’s account of the incident.

Musk on Sunday shared the article to his more than 100 million followers in a reply to Hillary Clinton, who tweeted a Los Angeles Times story about the suspect’s belief in the QAnon conspiracy theory as she tied the assault to Republican rhetoric.

“There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” Musk responded in the now-deleted tweet.

The Hill has reached out to a Twitter spokesperson for comment.

Musk’s tweet notably came just days after he closed a deal to purchase the social media platform.

The deal has raised concerns among the Tesla CEO’s critics about his plans for content moderation on the platform.

Musk has stressed a desire to relax the platform’s existing policies, but he indicated after the deal closed that he was forming a council to make those decisions and no major content moderation decisions had been made yet.