'Do your research and take this down': Trump is slammed for retweeting conspiracy theorist's TWO-YEAR-OLD video of disabled boy's invasive airport pat-down by TSA with the caption 'not a good situation'
President Trump is drawing criticism on social media on Tuesday after he retweeted a 2017 video showing an airport security agent give a lengthy, invasive pat-down to a young boy.
‘Not a good situation!’ the president wrote in the caption of his tweet.
Trump was subtweeting a video posted by standup comedian and actor Larry The Cable Guy, whose real name is Daniel Lawrence Whitley.
Whitley tweeted: ‘Absolutely ridiculous! How many times do you have to feel a kid up to figure out he’s not a threat?
‘This is infuriating and hard to watch.’
The March 2017 video shows a TSA agent at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport patting down the boy repeatedly, sometimes appearing to pat already checked.
The boy, Aaron Williamson, suffers from a sensory processing disorder. His mother, Jennifer, was with him when the pat-down took place. She said she warned the TSA agent that patting him down would upset the boy.
After the video went viral in 2017, the TSA apologized and promised to change its practices.
President Trump on Tuesday retweeted a two-year-old video of a disabled boy being aggressively patted down by a TSA agent at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport
'Not a good situation!' the president wrote in the caption of his tweet, which was a subtweet of comedian Larry the Cable Guy
Mom Jennifer Williamson filmed her son Aaron being patted down at DFW Airport in Dallas in March 2017. Aaron's disability mean he can't properly process the sensation of touch. The video went viral and sparked outrage
Whitley shared the video which was posted by a Twitter account that goes by the name ‘Deep State Exposed.’
The Twitter account belongs to Jeremy Stone, who wrote a book promoting conspiracy theories about a ‘deep state’ that is out to bring down President Trump.
Stone apparently uploaded the video to bolster his argument that the federal government can’t be trusted.
Reaction on Tuesday to Trump's retweet was negative.
'This video is two years old [sic] and now you're posting it all over the Internet for people to see this kid!,' tweeted one Twitter user who called the president a 'f'n sicko.'
Another Twitter user tweeted: 'This video is two years old. Made the news and went viral then. Keep up.'
'The President of the United States just told the world he likes Larry the Cable Guy,' tweeted another Twitter user.
'This happened almost two years ago, but I'm sure now it's a national emergency to you!!!' tweeted Jennifer Witt.
This is not the first time that Trump has shared videos from questionable sources online.
He also tweeted information that turned out to be not true.
Trump said that the late Senator John McCain graduated ‘last in his class’ from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, when the truth is McCain graduated fifth from last, according to The Washington Post.
Trump also retweeted a tweet from Chuck Callesto, who writes for a little-known website.
Callesto, who has also claimed that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, claimed that the Democrats are seeking to remove House Rep. Ilhan Omar from Congress.
![Reaction on Tuesday to Trump's retweet was negative. 'This video is two years old [sic] and now you're posting it all over the Internet for people to see this kid!,' tweeted one Twitter user who called the president a 'f'n sicko'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/20/07/11214048-6829221-Reaction_on_Tuesday_to_Trump_s_retweet_was_negative_This_video_i-a-30_1553065597018.jpg)
Reaction on Tuesday to Trump's retweet was negative. 'This video is two years old [sic] and now you're posting it all over the Internet for people to see this kid!,' tweeted one Twitter user who called the president a 'f'n sicko'
Another Twitter user tweeted: 'This video is two years old. Made the news and went viral then. Keep up'
'The President of the United States just told the world he likes Larry the Cable Guy,' tweeted another Twitter user
'This happened almost two years ago, but I'm sure now it's a national emergency to you!!!' tweeted Jennifer Witt
There is no effort by the Democratic Party to remove Omar, who was recently elected.
Trump also retweeted a tweet by the Twitter handle VB Nationalist, whose avatar is the letter ‘Q’.
Q is a reference to QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory which alleges that there is a deep state apparatus within the federal government working to bring down Trump.
VB Nationalist has also promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theories which alleged that Hillary Clinton and the Democrats were running a child sex ring out of the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizzeria.
Trump on Sunday also retweeted a tweet by Sara A. Carter, a frequent guest on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show.
Carter has also promoted conspiracy theories about the deep state.
Trump on Sunday also shared a tweet by Jack Posobiec, a host for the right-wing One America News channel.
Posobiec has also promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory as well as rumors about former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.
Rich was killed during a robbery on the streets of Washington, D.C., but far-right conservatives and conspiracy theorists have suggested that his death was the result of Democrats seeking to get revenge on him because he provided information to WikiLeaks.
Trump also retweeted a tweet by the Twitter handle VB Nationalist, whose avatar is the letter ‘Q’. Q is a reference to QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory which alleges that there is a deep state apparatus within the federal government working to bring down Trump
Trump on Sunday also shared a tweet by Jack Posobiec, a host for the right-wing One America News channel. Posobiec has also promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy theory as well as rumors about former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich
Trump on Sunday also retweeted a tweet by Sara A. Carter, a frequent guest on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show. Carter has also promoted conspiracy theories about the deep state
The video of the TSA agent patting down the boy first went viral in March 2017.
In a Facebook post, Williamson said that she and Aaron were punished and made to wait 'well over an hour' because she asked the TSA agents to respect Aaron's condition.
'We were treated like dogs because I requested they attempt to screen him in other ways per TSA rules,' she said.
'He has SPD and I didn't want my child given a pat down like this.'
In sensory processing disorder, sensations are improperly registered or processed by the nervous system, which can result in discomfort or inappropriate responses to being touched.
'Let me make something else crystal clear,' Williamson added, 'He set off NO alarms. He physically did not alarm at all during screening, he passed through the detector just fine.
'He is still several hours later saying "I don't know what I did. What did I do?" I am livid.'
She also said that the exchange continued beyond the video, when two DFW [Dallas/Fort Worth] officers were called in and 'flanked' Aaron on each side.
'Somehow these power tripping TSA agents who are traumatizing children and doing whatever they feel like without any cause, need to be reined in,' she concluded.
In response to the backlash, the TSA apologized and teamed up with Jennifer Williamson to alter its practices as they relate to people with disabilities.
