Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull has been called out on social media and was even hit with a Twitter community note addressing his false claim that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre would fail a security clearance due to a “red flag in his background.”

Turnbull made the unsubstantiated claim on Thursday in response to Poilievre’s refusal to be involved in classified briefings on Chinese interference.

“Why won’t ⁦Poilievre⁩ get security clearance? Either he prefers to remain ignorant of the facts so he can continue to mislead, or he has a red flag in his background which would have him fail to gain clearance causing him embarrassment,” speculated Turnbull.