Top Trump aide claims Biden would encourage child trafficking, echoing baseless QAnon conspiracy

Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, on behalf of the president’s re-election campaign, has claimed without evidence that Democratic candidate Joe Biden would “incentivise” child trafficking under his administration, if elected.

The claim mirrors conspiracies promoted by the online-driven QAnon delusion that Democratic lawmakers and celebrities are engaged in a child-trafficking operation, a belief that has gripped millions of Americans and elements of the Republican party.

Mr Miller, an architect of the administration’s hardline anti-immigration policies, claimed on a call with reporters on Wednesday that the former vice president would “incentivise child smuggling and child trafficking on an epic global scale.”

He also falsely claimed that the administration “kept families together” despite reports of hundreds of children who remain separated from their migrant families after they were detained at the US-Mexico border.