Elon Musk tweets and removes link to article promoting baseless conspiracy theory about attack on Paul Pelosi

Elon Musk on Sunday tweeted and removed a link to an article that advanced a baseless conspiracy theory about the attack on Paul Pelosi. A tweet from Musk that now owns Twitterraised concerns about the type of content that would be allowed on the social media site under his control.

In a since-deleted tweet responding to Hillary Clinton, Musk wrote: “There’s a small possibility there may be more to this story than meets the eye,” citing an article from the right-wing Santa Monica Observer, the site that fueled the conspiracy theory. anti-LGBT about the attack, according to an archived version of the story.

The outlet has made false claims in the past, including that Clinton herself died on 9/11 and has since been replaced by a doppelgänger, according to the Associated Press.

Musk deleted the tweet shortly after it was posted on Sunday morning and did not tweet from then until Sunday evening.

The former secretary of state had tweeted reference to history in Los Angeles Times about David Wayne DePape, 42, the man suspected of beating House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer at Pelosi’s home in San Francisco on Friday.

“The GOP and its mouthpieces are now routinely spreading hate and crazy conspiracy theories,” Clinton tweeted. “It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result. As citizens, we must hold them accountable for their words and the actions that follow from them.”

DePape on Friday allegedly broke into Pelosi’s house, yelling “Where’s Nancy?,” and planned to detain Paul Pelosi until the speaker returned home, law enforcement officials told CBS News. DePape was immediately taken into custody by police and will face charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and a number of other crimes, authorities said.

A CBS News review of DePape’s alleged social media posts shows him spreading conspiracy theories about Holocaust denial, pedophiles in government and allegations that Democrats run child sex rings.

Musk’s now-deleted tweet comes days after the Tesla CEO officially took control of the social network earlier this week after buying it for $44 billion.

As questions swirl about what type of content will be allowed on the site and whether previously banned accounts will be reinstated, Musk tweeted on Friday that Twitter would form a “content moderation board with a wide variety of perspectives.”

“No major decisions about content or account recovery will happen until this board meets,” Musk added.

Christina Ruffini contributed to this report.