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  • 2016-10-06 (xsd:date)
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  • Hillary Clinton Hired a Child Actor for a Town Hall Event? (en)
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  • On 5 October 2016, a video published to YouTube advanced the conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton had been caught using a hired child actor who was planted in the audience of a Town Hall campaign event in Haverford, Pennsylvania, to lead off by asking the candidate a pointedly anti-Trump question: This video was picked up by several web sites known for promulgating conspiracy theories, such as Info Wars and Zero Hedge: As is common with most conspiracy theories, the narrative was based on a few realities. Brennan Leach is — or at least was — a child actress (if having a small part in a single short film qualifies one as a child actress), she is the daughter of Pennsylvania state senator Daylin Leach, and she appears to have been the only audience member called upon who read her question from a piece of paper. While these three facts were presented as evidence that Clinton was caught using a child actress to ask a pre-arranged question, that conclusion was based on nothing more than speculation It's certainly likely that young Brennan Leach's political views have been informed by her parents, it's possible she received a prominent seat at the town hall event (making her more visible and more likely to be chosen for a question) because of her father's political prominence in the state, and it's not unreasonable to assume that her father talked to her before the event (and possibly even suggested a question for her to ask). But if the Clinton campaign had truly cast about for a child actor to ask a pre-arranged anti-Trump question, they likely would have hired one with a stronger résumé than a single bit part in a short film, selected an actor who could recite a question without having to read it from a script, and coached their choice not to offer her real full name (thereby subjecting the whole plot to exposure by anyone familiar with the Internet Movie Database). In short, the only aspect of this claim that suggests a conspiracy is the counterintuitive assertion that it was so easy to uncover. Steve Hoenstine, Senator Leach's Director of Communications, denied that Brennan was a paid actor, calling the attacks against the 15-year-old disgusting: (en)
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