Republican donor Hal Lambert on Monday appeared on CNN to defend President Donald Trump, leaving fellow “NewsNight” panelists in shock with a conspiracy theory involving former President Barack Obama, his former chief strategist David Axelrod and Pope Leo XIV.
Trump published a controversial social media post on Sunday condemning the pope and his calls for peace amid the Iran War, calling the pontiff “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible at Foreign Policy,” which Lambert baselessly suggested was the result of a shadow plot.
“But this is 100% political, OK?” Lambert said during his “NewsNight” appearance. “This is all about trying to hurt President Trump’s Catholic vote during the midterms and Republicans during the midterms. If you look at what— play out the dots here.”
“David Axelrod goes and visits Pope Leo last week. They’re talking about Obama going to visit Pope Leo. Pope Leo is from Chicago,” he begins to explain. “All of a sudden, now Pope Leo is out attacking Trump and the policies of the United States and Israel.”
Lambert was a member of Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee and founded the investment management firm Point Bridge Capital, which offers a MAGA-branded exchange-traded fund that centers on 150 companies from the S&P 500 Index that support Republican candidates.
While the pope on Saturday condemned U.S. and Israeli military aggressions against Iran, “NewsNight” host Abby Phillip noted that he voiced his opposition to the conflict long before Axelrod’s visit on April 9, and said, “Hal, there are just a lot of flaws in this.”
“No, no, no,” he insisted. “There’s no flaws. There’s no flaws … Axelrod is the chief strategist for Obama? The pope is saying he’s not political? Why is he meeting with the chief strategist for both Obama’s campaigns and in the White House?”
Political commentator and fellow panelist Leigh McGowan noted that Vice President JD Vance met with Pope Francis last year, prompting Phillip to add that the former pontiff was “extremely critical” of Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and “still met with JD Vance.”
“So what’s the conspiracy?” Phillip asked.
Lambert said, “Why has Pope Leo been… when Iran killed 30,000 plus of their own citizens, he didn’t call out the Iranian regime, at all? He said we need to stop violence … That wasn’t calling out the Iranian regime, and yet he’s calling out the United States and Israel.”
The pope has met with many officials and celebrities, including actor Adam Scott, model Naomi Campbell and director Judd Apatow, but Lambert oddly refrained from claiming that this, too, was a conspiracy — perhaps to get the pope’s blessing for an Italian rom-com.
