[aspenmayer]

They are referring to Operation Denver, a KGB plot to sow misinformation suggesting that AIDS was a US government conspiracy as early as 1983.

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/operation-denver-kgb-aids...

[meowface]

Oh, I know, I just thought it was funny to refer to disinformation as "hawking bum dope". (Though this is a merging of the NYT's word and the quote.) Not really something anyone would say in modern American English.