Rep. Joaquin Castro doubles down on bizarre conspiracy theory about missing journalist

Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro (Texas) was criticized heavily for a bizarre conspiracy theory he floated about Jared Kushner being involved with the disappearance of a journalist at a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey.

"I'm not sure where you're getting that from"

Castro made the wild accusations on CNN to a stunned anchor who felt the need to inform the audience that they had no reporting to support his conspiracy theory.

Harlow asked Castro about accusations from some members of Congress that the White House was keeping intelligence from them about the disappearance of a reporter at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey.

Castro avoided the question and instead launched into his conspiracy theory.

"Let me get to the point that is most disturbing right now," Castro said, "the reporting that Jared Kushner may have, with U.S. intelligence, delivered a hit list, an enemies list, to the crown prince, to MBS, in Saudi Arabia and that the prince may have acted on that, and one of the people he took action against is Mr. Khashoggi."

"Just to be clear congressman," Poppy Harlow interrupted, "we don't have, I just want to be clear for our viewers, we do not have that reporting, I'm not sure where you're getting that from."

"But there is reporting to that effect," Castro offered. "I have seen reporting to that effect."

Here's the video of Castro's Khashoggi conspiracy theory:

Castro later walked back the accusations from his social media account, but then doubled down at the end of his twitter tirade.

"To be clear, I did not intend to accuse @jaredkushner of orchestrating anything," Castro tweeted. "Based on press reporting, I'm asking for Congress to open an investigation of whether any US Intelligence was shared with Saudi Arabia that led to political persecution or killing of #Khashoggi."

"There has been broad skepticism in the US intelligence community of @jaredkushner's relationship with #MBS," he added, using the shorthand acronym for Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

Castro tweeted several articles that supported his theory about skepticism over Kusher's relationship with the Saudis.

"For these reasons," he concluded, "Congress should open an investigation to see whether @jaredkushner or any other Admin official shared any US intelligence with the Saudis that led to any political persecution, including the killing of #JamalKhashoggi."