Anti-Trump Harvard Law prof Laurence Tribe falsely claims dossier source killed in Russia plane crash

Laurence Tribe, pictured in 2003, has taught at Harvard Law School since 1968. (REUTERS/Paul Sakuma)

A liberal Harvard Law School professor falsely claimed on Twitter Monday that a source for the infamous Trump-Russia dossier was killed when a Russian passenger plane crashed over the weekend.

Laurence Tribe alleged that one of the crash's 71 victims was a man called Sergei Millian, according to The Daily Caller. Tribe, who has taught at Harvard for five decades, claimed Millian "is said to be behind one of the most salacious claims in the dossier on Trump's involvement with Russia."

"Probably just a coincidence," Tribe added sarcastically.

The tweet, which Tribe deleted but was preserved by the Daily Caller in a screenshot, included a link to a Washington Post report from last year that claimed Millian had told dossier author Christopher Steele that the Kremlin is blackmailing President Trump.

The Daily Caller reported that online conspiracy theorists had circulated rumors that Millian was on board the doomed flight under the alias "Sergei Panchenko."

Late Monday morning, Tribe walked back his claim that Millian was on the flight, tweeting that "So far, the only sources confirming that Millian was among the dead are ones I can’t vouch for."

"Sorry if I rang a false alarm," Tribe added.

The professor, who was part of Al Gore's legal team during the Florida recount drama following the 2000 presidential election, has repeatedly hammered Trump and Republicans on social media and in traditional media.

On Monday, The New York Times published an opinion piece co-written by Tribe arguing that House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was engaging in obstruction of justice by releasing a memo alleging federal wrongdoing in carrying out surveillance of former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

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