Rush Limbaugh says Reality Winner leak story is a left-wing conspiracy

Right-wing radio show host Rush Limbaugh hinted that he didn't believe the story behind the arrest of federal contractor Reality Winner because it was too "convenient." He made the comments on his radio show Tuesday.

"Well, the NSA has had this for I don’t know how long," Limbaugh said. "[Former President Barack] Obama has known about this even before he went out in December and said there’s no evidence that the Russians ever tried to tamper with voting machines. He said this in December.

"He said that it wouldn’t be possible," he explained. "This document or this series of documents that were leaked to The Intercept by Reality Winner do not say what the Drive-By Media is reporting.

"They do not say that the Russians succeeded in hacking voting machines," he continued, "but it doesn’t matter because the left is off and running with this now as is the Drive-By Media, as best as can be determined, and it is really in the weeds the more you read this NSA document."

"Apparently — and I don’t know if I even believe this, folks," Limbaugh said. "This is too convenient. It’s too pat. It fits an agenda that the left has no evidence for what they’ve been pursuing and chasing for nearly a year now.

"And, all of a sudden, when I’m not here, by the way," he said, "all of a sudden when I’m not here, this massive secret document’s discovered by some 25-year-old consultant for the NSA. And she printed it out and sent it to The Intercept."

He explained further on why he didn't believe the report, saying, "She prints out these documents. Let’s deal with them for a moment as it’s been reported. I want to just reiterate. I’m not sure that, at this stage, I believe any of this."

"This is too big a smoking gun and if this document really contained what it’s said to contain we would have heard about it long before now," he concluded.

Limbaugh later said that he thought the media was trying to make her sound smarter than she actually was.

"It’s a lot of words that don’t say anything really substantive," he said of The Intercept's story. "It just looks like it does. The headline and the name of the website, The Intercept, and then you’ve got this woman who supposedly speaks three languages. It’s one language with three dialects. The media’s trying to make her look like she’s really greatly, profoundly educated, worldly and sophisticated. But to me, it’s just all too pat."

Reality Winner is accused of sending highly confidential information to The Intercept, which published the story Monday, the same day she was arrested by the FBI. Journalists have noted that it appears The Intercept practiced very poor security standards with the document they obtained, and this likely led to the capture of their leaker.