'Not a conspiracy theorist': Harris fundraiser floats idea Trump colluding with Putin, Israel to win election
A national finance committee member for the Harris-Walz campaign posted a question whether former President Donald Trump is working with Israel and Russia to boost election efforts.
A member of Vice President Kamala Harris’ national finance committee says that her social media posts questioning if former President Donald Trump is colluding with Israel, Russia and Saudi Arabia to boost his election hopes are "absolutely valid," and she denies being a "conspiracy theorist."
DNC National Finance Committee member Lindy Li has posted to X several times in recent days, speculating about potential coordination between the GOP presidential nominee and numerous foreign governments.
"Did Trump collude with Netanyahu to block a ceasefire to help him win the election? Did Trump conspire with the Saudi Crown Prince to jack up gas prices to help him win? Did he and Putin agree to delay ending the war in Ukraine til after the election?" Li posted on Tuesday. "Americans deserve answers."
Li is a Philadelphia-area Democratic activist and strategist who serves as a national finance committee member for the Harris-Walz campaign. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro appointed her last year as a commissioner for the state to serve on the Governor's Advisory Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs, and Li is considered one of the top "influencers shaping the 2024 election," according to Wired.
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Li denied she was promoting any conspiracy theories and told Fox News Digital in a phone interview that she is simply asking questions.
"I'm not a conspiracy theorist," Li said, noting that "there have been media articles on each of" the points she made in the X post.
She added, "Trump himself has admitted to speaking with Putin. He even admitted it on a debate stage, literally, in June. … And then there's been extensive reporting about Trump speaking with MBS. And then, when asked what they were talking about, he refused to say. But there's also been reporting that before every election, the Saudis will do everything in OPEC to jack our prices."
To support her case, Li cites what she views as Trump's history of leveraging issues to help his election hopes, accusing Trump of helping to scuttle a bipartisan immigration bill to keep illegal immigration "a salient campaign issue."
"Given Trump’s widely reported destruction of the bipartisan immigration deal in order to keep it a salient campaign issue, I think it’s absolutely valid to ask if he would the same thing with a ceasefire deal, especially given how close Netanyahu and Trump are," she said.
While Trump opposed the border deal, Senate Republicans mobilized against the deal, arguing it would allow 5,000 migrants into the country each day and hand Democrats "more authority, more funds, and frankly, more flexibility" on handling the border.
Li’s post followed news this weekend that Hamas terrorists killed six hostages Saturday as Israel Defense Forces launched an operation in Gaza. Among the bodies recovered was Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who had been held by the Hamas terrorists since Oct. 7, when war first broke out between Hamas and Israel.
Protests erupted in Israel this week over the six hostages’ deaths, with residents demanding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu solidify a cease-fire deal and bring home the remaining hostages. Netanyahu said this week he will "not give in to pressure" for a cease-fire, saying Israel needs control of the narrow section of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Li added in a follow-up message on X that "Nixon delayed ending the Vietnam War to finagle his way into office" while building the argument that Trump might be working with world leaders to bolster his odds of winning back the White House.
"Trump, who considers Nixon to be his spiritual predecessor, would stop at NOTHING to win, even if it means continuing the immense suffering in Gaza to boost his own electoral chances," she wrote.
Li argued that President Ronald Reagan also leveraged a world event to bolster his election effort.
"Reagan made a deal with Iran to DELAY the release of U.S. hostages til AFTER the election," Li posted. "Nixon made a deal with the Vietnamese to delay ending the war til AFTER the election."
"Trump likely made a deal with Netanyahu to block a ceasefire til AFTER the election. Same damn playbook."
Li said that her questions and posts are ideas already put forth by other media pundits, pointing Fox Digital to a Steven Beschloss post from Monday and a New York Times op-ed penned by Thomas Friedman, titled, "How Netanyahu Is Trying to Save Himself, Elect Trump and Defeat Harris."
The ongoing war in Israel has increased pressure on the Biden-Harris administration to lock down a cease-fire, as Trump accuses Harris of being weak on foreign policy.
"The Israeli attack was made because we are perceived as being weak and ineffective and with a really weak leader," Trump said during a campaign rally in Iowa the day Hamas first attacked Israel in October.
"All over the world things are not what they were just three years ago," he added.
Trump has gone on to say that if he were in office, wars in both Israel and Ukraine would not have occurred.
"I will end every single international crisis that the current administration has created, including the horrible war with Russia and Ukraine, which would’ve never happened if I was president and the war caused by the attack on Israel, which would’ve never happened if I was president," Trump declared during his nomination acceptance speech at the RNC in July.
"Iran was broke. Iran had no money. Now Iran has $250 billion. They made it all over the last two and a half years. They were broke. I watched the other day on a show called Deface the Nation. Has anyone seen it? And they had a Congressman who was a Democrat, say, ‘Well, whether you like him or not, Iran was broke dealing with Trump.’"
Fox Digital reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment on Li's X posts but did not receive a response.
