As it becomes clearer the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia was behind the gruesome torture, murder, and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, President Trump’s allies have ramped up efforts to paint him as a terrorist sympathizer.

On Thursday evening, the Post reported on what appears to be a whisper campaign among Republican lawmakers and conservative media aimed at smearing Khashoggi as a jihadist in order to excuse President Trump’s prevarications on delivering a forceful rebuttal of the oil-rich regime’s human-rights abuses.

Among the examples cited by the Post was the stunning claim cast Thursday by Harris Faulkner, host of Fox News’ highly rated daytime gabfest Outnumbered, in the middle of a discussion on Khashoggi’s disappearance.

“Khashoggi was tied to the Muslim Brotherhood,” she said.