Now-former deputy WH liaison at USAID apologizes for tweets she says she didn't send, and then things get weird

Are we having fun yet? No? Well, buckle up.

Earlier this week, deputy White House liaison at USAID Merritt Corrigan found herself in hot water over a series of tweets sent out from her Twitter account. And now, she’s no longer with USAID.

More from Politico:

Merritt Corrigan, the deputy White House liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development, is leaving the agency after a short and tumultuous tenure marred by calls for her removal over controversial comments she had made on LGBT rights, according to two USAID officials and another person familiar with the matter.

Late Monday morning, Corrigan unlocked her previously private Twitter account and unleashed six tweets blasting USAID, congressional Democrats and the media.

In tweets unusual even for an administration that has been marked by constant personnel shakeups and palace intrigue, she saidshe would be holding a news conference on Thursday that would include two far-right purveyors of conspiracy theories, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, to “discuss the rampant anti-Christian sentiment at USAID.” She also said she had “watched with horror this week as USAID distributed taxpayer funded documents claiming ‘we cannot tell someone’s sex or gender by looking at them’ and that not calling oneself ‘cis-gendered’ is a microagression[.] I’m not cis-anything. I’m a woman.”

…

On Monday, she defended herself and tweeted: “For too long, I’ve remained silent as the media has attacked me for my Christian beliefs, which are shared by the majority of Americans[.] Let me clear: Gay marriage isn’t marriage[.] Men aren’t women[.] US-funded Tunisian LGBT soap operas aren’t America First.”

NEW — @MerrittCorrigan has apologized for the inflammatory tweets that were sent out from her account on Monday. "I did NOT send these messages, and while I vehemently protested about them being sent in my name, my devices were not in my control." https://t.co/CBgK7pcCBj

— Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) August 5, 2020

More of @MerrittCorrigan's statement: “I would like to apologize. Especially to the people who have been affected or hurt by the messages sent from my Twitter account, and the claims made in my name on Monday." She says she did not send the tweets out. https://t.co/CBgK7pudZT

— Daniel Lippman (@dlippman) August 5, 2020

Hmmm.

What?

— Patricia DeRush (@derush_patricia) August 5, 2020

pic.twitter.com/4Viz1G3LHV

— Jay Dem (@JayDen5210) August 5, 2020

So who sent the tweets? https://t.co/g6lTvWVi6j

— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) August 5, 2020

Well, that’s where it gets even more interesting. Because Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman — with whom Corrigan said she’d be holding a press conference this week — have released a statement of their own:

In a bizarre twist, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman have now issued a statement saying Merritt Corrigan, fired from USAID yesterday amid anti-LGBT tweets, has accused them of kidnapping her and forcing her to send the tweets

— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) August 5, 2020

Beg your pardon?

The statement claims that Wohl and Corrigan were in an "intense sexual relationship." It alleges without evidence that Corrigan had planned to implicate Pompeo in a foreign "gold watch scandal" but caved under pressure

— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) August 5, 2020

Our heads hurt.