How an FBI raid fed a rumor that Orrin Hatch was about to become president

A part of the liberal Internet that seems to be constantly waiting on tenterhooks for some news about Russia that will topple the Trump administration responded to Mensch’s reporting with glee, eagerly sharing it on social media platforms tens of thousands of times. But things really escalated when, at 1 p.m. ET, a reporter for a local TV station in Baltimore tweeted that FBI agents were executing a search warrant at a Republican consulting firm in Annapolis, Maryland, not far from Washington, D.C.

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Before any further details had come to light, anti-Trump Internet detectives pounced. The Baltimore TV reporter’s tweet was retweeted more than 20,000 times. To many on the left, the news seemed to confirm Mensch’s reporting. It’s begun! The arrests are underway! Prepare for President Hatch! They assumed that the raid was related to the FBI’s investigation into Russian election meddling.

“Coincidence, no doubt,” snarked Keith Olbermann, the liberal firebrand and former MSNBC host who hosts his GQ video commentary series from the fringes of the left. “Nothing to see here.”

When the dust had settled, however, it appeared to be just that: a coincidence.

Federal law enforcement sources told CNN the raid was not connected to the investigation into Russian election meddling and was, in fact, related to state-level campaign work the firm had done.

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