Tennis star John McEnroe’s often-repeated outburst when an umpire's call did not go his way quickly came to mind as I read an Ogden newspaper interview of Mac Warner, WV’s Secretary of State and candidate for WV governor, who was in Wheeling yesterday for a campaign fundraiser. The visit was covered by local stenographer Jocelyn King and the article clearly demonstrates that Warner is even further removed from the reality of the 2020 presidential election than previously thought: he's now added America's intelligence agencies to his conspiracy theory for why Donald Trump is not president.

“I’ll tell you this . . . my biggest concern is not Russia, Iran . . . North Korea,” he said. “It’s our own CIA and FBI,” Warner said. “That’s very hard for me to say, but that’s what they did in 2020 — they lied to the American people.”

. . . . Warner said he testified before the U.S. Congress on April 27 that current Secretary of State Anthony Blinken — a campaign adviser for now President Joe Biden in 2020 — “planted an idea into (former Deputy CIA Director) Mike Morrell’s head” that the Hunter Biden laptop issue “was Russian disinformation when he knew that it wasn’t.”

“The CIA knew that it wasn’t, and the FBI knew that it wasn’t, and they allowed that lie to go forth to the American people two weeks before the (2020) election for the express purpose of giving Biden talking points against Trump, and they lied to the American people,” Warner said.

“I really get upset about this.

“This is the worst case of elections interference in American history, and it’s been somewhat lost in the overwhelming back and forth between the parties. . . . This is what we need to get out to the people – that our own government lied to us, and this is bad.”

Of course, Warner provided no proof for any of the above and the article suggests that the reporter asked no follow-ups. Coincidentally, a Hunter Biden legal case was resolved yesterday morning by a Trump-appointed judge:

A Trump-appointed US Attorney in Delaware investigated Hunter Biden for years. The case has now been resolved with Hunter Biden pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges for filing his taxes late.

This from the NYT: pic.twitter.com/E6aZvfk4Av

— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) June 20, 2023

Are they all stenographers?

Finally, there is this "breaking news" from the West Virginia Press Association:

WV Press Political Advisory: Mac Warner launches Gun Owners Coalitionhttps://t.co/rqpQdWfG6h pic.twitter.com/UPAYKDQudi

— WV Press Association (@WVPress) June 21, 2023

Okay, I give up – how is forming a gun owners coalition “breaking news”?