Fox’s Ari Fleischer Pummels Trump’s ‘Irresponsible’ Conspiracy Theory on Elderly Man in Buffalo: ‘Diminishes the Office’

It’s rare when former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer criticizes Donald Trump; but on Thursday, he doubled down on slamming the president’s conspiracy theories about the elderly man who was injured in Buffalo after cops shoved him to the ground.

Earlier this week, the Fox News contributor was among those who blasted Trump’s groundless claim that longtime activist Martin Gugino “could be an ANTIFA provocateur,” and that the viral video of his head injury might have been a “set-up.”

The President’s penchant for trafficking in conspiracy theories is, politically speaking, going to ruin him. This is reckless. He doesn’t know when to stop. https://t.co/5ZmWC78d5M

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) June 9, 2020

On Thursday, Fox’s Harris Faulkner asked Fleischer to elaborate, and he reiterated his displeasure with Trump’s conspiracy theories.

“If he saw something on the news that surmised there may have been something else behind this, he should have said to his staff ‘Find out if it’s true or not and I’ll decide if that matters and whether it changes any conclusions I reach about the police’s behavior,” Fleischer said. “For a president just to wing it and launch that conspiracy theory out there is irresponsible.”

Fleischer went on to say he was “baffled” by Trump’s decision to run with the claim — while acknowledging that this is hardly the first time the president has run with unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.

“It’s his worst habit when he gets into these conspiracy modes and just lets it rip in public,” he said. “It just diminishes the office of the presidency.”

Watch above, via Fox News.