Hillary Clinton loyalist picked by Biden for key post spread conspiracy theory Trump only won in 2016 because of Russia

A TOP pick for Joe Biden’s economic cabinet spread a conspiracy theory days after the 2016 election that Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump because Russian hackers flipped votes.

Neera Tanden, who on Monday was nominated as Biden‘s director of the Office of Management and Budget, repeatedly claimed in the weeks after Trump‘s win that Kremlin operatives were the reason behind the Democrat‘s loss.

Getty Images - Getty

Neera Tanden, a former adviser to Hillary Clinton, pushed a conspiracy theory in 2016 about Russian operatives helping Trump get elected[/caption]

The 50-year-old served as an unpaid adviser to Clinton during her 2016 presidential run – on Monday, she was selected by Biden as OMB chief, a role that oversees his administration’s financial management.

Days after the 2016 election, Tanden pushed the baseless theory that Russian hackers had swapped votes for Clinton to Trump, Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald reported on Monday.

In response to a report that the FBI claimed “Russian hackers” had “accessed voter info,” she tweeted: “Why would hackers hack in unless they could change results? What’s the point?”

AP:Associated Press

Tanden claimed ‘Russian hackers’ flipped votes from Clinton to Trump, which is why Trump was ‘surprised’ about his election win[/caption]

Getty Images

Tanden served as a former unpaid adviser to Clinton during her 2016 presidential campaign[/caption]

Getty Images - Getty

Tanden has also slammed Republican lawmakers in old tweets, some of which have been deleted[/caption]

Getty Images - Getty

Tanden hugging Clinton at a 2016 event[/caption]

Tanden then suggested this was the reason why “Trump was as surprised as everyone else” when he won the presidency.

In a series of old tweets, she claimed the “Russians did enough damage to affect more than 70k votes in 3 states,” referring to Clinton’s losing margin in the Rust Belt states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

How can Democrats and allied media outlets credibly oppose unhinged conspiracy theories and attacks on U.S. election legitimacy while empowering its worst purveyors such as Tanden? pic.twitter.com/d6i7HhUc0p

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 30, 2020

Tanden has deleted some – but not all – of her tweets blasting prominent Republican lawmakers including House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Maine Senator Susan Collins while praising their Democratic counterparts, according to the Daily Beast.

When Collins’ re-election appeared to be hanging by a thread, Tanden promised in a since-deleted tweet to treat her challenger, Democrat Sara Gideon, “like a long lost relative” and “work hard to help her beat Susan Collins.”

It’s unclear when exactly she deleted them, but many of the tweets were still viewable as of Tuesday.

Republicans are reportedly balking at the thought of Tanden being nominated as OMB director, with some saying she has “zero chance” of being confirmed.

AFP or licensors

Republican lawmakers are balking at the idea of Tanden as OMB director because of her ‘partisan’ tweets[/caption]

AFP or licensors

She’s been called ‘overly partisan’, which could squash her chances of a confirmation[/caption]

GOP senators were quick to point out on Monday that her “partisan” background could make it difficult for Tanden to gain support.

Senator Rob Portman, a former Office of Management and Budget director himself, said: “The concern I have is both judgment, based on the tweets that I’ve been shown, just in the last 24 hours… and it’s the partisan nature.

“Of all the jobs, that’s one where I think you would need to be careful not to have someone who’s overtly partisan.”