This kind of ugliness used to be limited to the fringiest fringe right wing bloggers, but in the Trump era even members of Congress are joining in the hate: Conservatives mount a whisper campaign smearing Khashoggi in defense of Trump.

Hard-line Republicans and conservative commentators are mounting a whispering campaign against that is designed to protect President Trump from criticism of his handling of the dissident journalist’s alleged murder by operatives of Saudi Arabia — and support Trump’s continued aversion to a forceful response to the oil-rich desert kingdom.

In recent days, a cadre of conservative House Republicans allied with Trump has been privately exchanging articles from right-wing outlets that fuel suspicion of Khashoggi, highlighting his association with the Muslim Brotherhood in his youth and raising conspiratorial questions about his work decades ago as an embedded reporter covering Osama bin Laden, according to four GOP officials involved in the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly.