Conspiracy theorists are claiming that former President Bill Clinton admitted himself into the hospital last week in order to distract the public from his ties to deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In video footage that circulated late last week, a masked Clinton appears alongside his wife Hillary, shaking the hands of numerous medical professionals.
The day prior, hundreds of court documents related to Epstein were made public and detailed Clinton’s relationship with the financier.
Clinton, conspiracy theorists surmised, had purposely faked an injury in order to escape to the hospital.
“Breaking News: After the Epstein Pervert List Dropped, Bill Clinton Pulls a Harvey Weinstein fake hurt scam…” one user wrote.
While Clinton’s ties to Epstein have long been known, the documents did reveal that Epstein allegedly told one of his victims that the former president preferred his women “young.”
“Now, all of a sudden, Bill Clinton is ill?” another user wrote. “How convenient.”
Some even suggested that Clinton would soon fake his own death in order to disappear from the public eye.
Hillary, despite not being named in the documents, was also a target of conspiracy theories.
“Bill and Hilary Clinton’s public health will begin to rapidly deteriorate,” one QAnon promoter said.
There’s just one problem: The footage isn’t from last week. In fact, the video isn’t even from last year.
The video was originally filmed in late 2021 when Clinton had left a hospital in California after being treated for an infection.
Posts spreading on X were soon hit with a Community Note label pointing out the video’s origins.
In other words, Clinton didn’t recently check himself in and then leave a hospital as part of some ploy related to Epstein.
Since the documents were released last week, conspiracy theorists have flooded X with misinformation in an apparent attempt to go viral.
Why it matters
This incident shows once again how conspiracy theorists can’t help but churn out misinformation.
The allegations against Clinton, as well as his numerous trips on Epstein’s private plane, are already concerning. Yet by spreading false claims, conspiracy theorists only help ensure that accurate information is drowned out.
