Sean Duffy, Former Congressman, Shares Controversial Theory On First Day As CNN Contributor

Social media was in an uproar on Sunday over CNN’s decision to allow former Republican Rep. Sean Duffy on the air as a commentator, and the former lawmaker used his first opportunity on a CNN broadcast to peddle a controversial theory that caused things to get heated on the cable broadcast.

Duffy, who — per Raw Story — resigned earlier this year in order to take care of nine children, spent his first appearance on CNN, which came on State of The Union with Jake Tapper, arguing with other contributors and sharing an untested theory. Per the Raw Story recap of Duffy’s first CNN appearance, the former legislator reportedly attempted to defend President Donald Trump by referring to a controversial theory that claims Ukraine has access to a DNC server relating to Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The other contributors present on the CNN Sunday show didn’t seem to take it lightly that Duffy was sharing the theory.

“This is an absurd conspiracy theory!” fellow contributor Jen Psaki interrupted. “What you’re stating is completely inaccurate and factually wrong.”

Psaki later added that the theory was present mostly on right-wing blogs. Duffy, who insisted it was not an untested theory, asked the panel why it didn’t support further investigating the theory about Russia interference in the election. CNN contributor Amanda Carpenter exclaimed it was because “we already know” what happened.

Duffy trended on Twitter in the United States on Sunday morning following his appearance on the cable news network. There seemed to be a consensus among the tweets in the trending topic that showed a growing anger that CNN hired the former lawmaker to appear on its broadcasts.

“.@jaketapper had Sean Duffy (who CNN just hired) on his show and allowed him to lie and spread that debunked conspiracy theory about the DNC server,” one Twitter user said. “The @CNN slogan is ‘facts first,’ yet they hire a dude that pushes conspiracies and then barely call him out for it.”

Others said that they were unsure where they should get their news, seemingly equating CNN with FOX News, typically viewed as being more favorable to the president and other Republicans.

“.@CNN hires Sean Duffy keeping its near perfect record of hiring only Republicans willing to lie for Donald Trump,” another user wrote on Twitter. “Fact Checking #CNN own hires is why fewer and fewer people believe Journalism.”

As The Inquisitr reported earlier Sunday, on another Sunday morning show – FOX News Sunday – host Chris Wallace grilled acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. This was over Mulvaney’s comments earlier in the week that seemed to confirm there was quid pro quo involved in the July call between Trump and the Ukrainian president in which Trump reportedly asked about the controversial theory. Mulvaney has walked those comments back as support for the president’s impeachment grows.