Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, urged her Twitter followers “to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota.” That appeal is now being used in an attack ad to portray her as helping to free an accused child rapist.

The ad is the work of Preserve America PAC, a super PAC that has quickly spent more than $50 million since being formed on Aug. 31. It says, “Biden’s pick for vice president helped raise money that got a man out of jail after he allegedly sexually penetrated a child, an 8-year-old girl.”

But Harris, a former California state attorney general, asked the public to bail out protesters – not an alleged sex offender. She did so in a June 1 tweet.

If you’re able to, chip in now to the @MNFreedomFund to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota. https://t.co/t8LXowKIbw

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 1, 2020

The Minnesota Freedom Fund is a nonprofit that assists low-income people unable to pay cash bail or a commercial bail bondsman. Those accused of a crime who can’t post bail must remain in custody before trials or hearings.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are guilty or innocent — if you cannot afford to post your bail, you will stay in jail until your trial,” the group says, adding that the system “criminalizes poverty” and disproportionately affects Blacks and other minority groups. The cash bail amount is returned once the accused appears for the trial.

The Biden/Harris campaign proposes to end cash bail, which it says “incarcerates people who are presumed innocent” and “disproportionately harms low-income individuals.” Instead, it proposes instituting a pretrial system “that is fair and does not inject further discrimination or bias into the process.”

The Minnesota Freedom Fund had raised a modest amount of money before the death of George Floyd — a Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest in Minneapolis on May 25. The group gained tax-exempt status in 2017, and raised about $53,000 that year and about $110,000 in 2018.

Since Floyd’s death, the group has raised more than $30 million with the help of supporters such as Harris. But very little of that money was needed to bail out protesters — many of whom were issued citations, and were not detained. In a Sept. 4 post, the group said it had “paid $3,475,000 for county bails,” but only $210,000 of that was used for protest-related bails.

One of those helped by the fund was Timothy Wayne Columbus, who is the accused child rapist referenced in the ad. The conservative Daily Caller, which is cited in the ad, reported on Sept. 16 that the alleged rape occurred in 2015, and the Minnesota Freedom Fund paid $75,000 on July 1 to secure Columbus’ release from a Minneapolis jail pending trial.

According to state court records, Judge Tamara Garcia granted Columbus conditional release on $75,000 cash bail on July 1. The next day, according to the Daily Caller story, he filed a request to return bail to a third party – the Minnesota Freedom Fund.

The ad makes an emotional appeal to voters based on only part of the story.

It doesn’t explain that Harris was seeking to raise money for protesters, not an accused sex offender, and it ignores that any decision to grant or deny bail is made by a judge. It also implies that anyone accused of a crime should remain behind bars pending trial, when, in fact, anyone who can post bail, if a judge grants it, would be released.

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The post Reviewing the Facts in Anti-Harris Ad on Accused Child Rapist appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

A conspiracy theory on Facebook is falsely claiming that the killing of George Floyd was “filmed before covid19” because “[n]ot a single person is wearing a mask” in the videos. Some of the officers and officials in the videos can clearly be seen wearing masks.

Full Story 

Since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, conspiracy theories about his death have swirled online as posts have falsely suggested that the death was “staged” or that “crisis actors” were involved.

Now, a repeatedly posted image on Facebook feeding into that narrative wrongly claims that the killing was “filmed before covid19” because “not a single person is wearing a mask” in the videos.

“It just dawned on me the most glaring component of the Floyd psyop… it was filmed before covid19… How do I know… Not a single person is wearing a mask…” the post claims. It specifically asserts that Floyd and “the cops,” among others, were not wearing masks.

But the claim is undercut by a review of footage that is publicly available.

Take the viral video that shows former Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck, for example. The video, captured by a bystander, shows that two EMTs who arrived at the scene, and who helped put Floyd into an ambulance, can be seen wearing surgical masks.

Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony.

Other footage captured by surveillance cameras at a nearby restaurant also shows that former Officer Thomas Lane — one of three officers charged with aiding and abetting unintentional second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter — was also wearing a mask.

Another officer who was present at the scene can also be seen wearing a face covering, the surveillance video shows. More footage captures a firefighter, who arrived after the ambulance left, also wearing a mask.

So the assertion that “[n]ot a single person is wearing a mask” in the videos is false. The footage, in fact, undercuts the baseless theory that Floyd’s death was “filmed before covid19.”

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

“Four officers charged in George Floyd’s death.” Hennepin County Attorney. 3 Jun 2020.

Hale Spencer, Saranac. “Bogus Claims of ‘Crisis Actors’ in Death of George Floyd.” FactCheck.org. 16 Jun 2020.

Hill, Evan, et. al. “8 Minutes and 46 Seconds: How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody.” New York Times. 31 May 2020.

The post Conspiracy Theory on Floyd’s Death Disproved by Footage appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

A viral story shared on social media is falsely claiming that Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd, committed suicide in his prison cell.

Full Story 

As national tensions surged over the death of George Floyd in police custody, a dubious website published a story on May 31 falsely claiming that the former Minneapolis police officer charged with killing Floyd had committed suicide.

“Minneapolis Police Officer who killed George Floyd, Derek Chauvin commits suicide in prison cell,” reads the erroneous headline on w24n.com.

The website sources the story to WCCO in Minneapolis, but that station has not reported as much, and the story also claims the information had been “reported” by “U.S media.” There have been no such credible news reports.

Instead, news coverage has tracked Chauvin’s whereabouts: After he was arrested on May 29, he was initially held in the Ramsey County Jail, then Hennepin County Jail, and then transferred to a maximum-security state prison, the Minnesota Correctional Facility – Oak Park Heights. A TMZ story, citing an unnamed source, said Chauvin was “effectively” on suicide watch while in Ramsey County.

Regardless, the false w24n.com story about Chauvin racked up nearly 100,000 Facebook engagements, according to CrowdTangle analytics data. It was also spread separately through screenshots of the headline.

The website is registered to someone in Kenya and describes itself as a “world leader in online news and information” and claims that it has “almost 200 journalists” around the world, even though there is no staff list on the website.

The site has previously pushed an unsubstantiated claim that former President Barack Obama tested positive for the novel coronavirus; we’ve seen no evidence to support that assertion. It has also republished content from other outlets without attribution, such as a story about the COVID-19 death toll in Italy that was reported by Reuters and a story taken from TMZ about a tornado in Arkansas.

Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer, was arrested on May 29 on charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin was seen in a viral video kneeling on Floyd’s neck, while the 46-year-old black man repeatedly said he could not breathe. Three other officers involved in the May 25 arrest have also been fired.

According to the criminal complaint, Chauvin had his “knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in total. Two minutes and 53 seconds of this was after Mr. Floyd was non-responsive.”

“Police are trained that this type of restraint with a subject in a prone position is inherently dangerous,” the complaint said.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

Gottfried, Mara H. “Ex-Minneapolis officer charged in George Floyd’s death held in Ramsey County Jail.” Pioneer Press. 30 May 2020.

Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. “County Attorney Mike Freeman to announce new developments in Floyd death.” Facebook Live video. 29 May 2020. 

State of Minnesota vs. Derek Michael Chauvin | Complaint. Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. 29 May 2020.

Thiede, Dana. “Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin transferred to Oak Park Heights state prison.” KARE 11. 1 Jun 2020.

“Whois Record for w24n.com.” whois.domaintools.com. Accessed 1 Jun 2020.

The post Officer Charged in Floyd’s Death Hasn’t Committed Suicide appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

Viral text posts are advancing the groundless claim that George Floyd’s arrest and death in Minneapolis were “staged” to incite “racial tensions.” But they offer no evidence to support that conspiracy theory.

Full Story 

Text posts of a nearly 1,000-word screed shared by thousands on Facebook are baselessly suggesting that the arrest and death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, were “staged.”

The posts have circulated in the wake of Floyd’s death on May 25. Floyd, a black man, was declared dead shortly after he was detained by police. A video of the arrest shows the 46-year-old repeatedly saying that he could not breathe as an officer, a white man, kneels on his neck.

“The Floyd event was staged,” the posts claim.

Like many conspiracy theories, what follows is a long list of claims and unrelated events to argue that a secret plot with political motives is at play. But none of the evidence cited supports the contention that the “event” was “staged.”

The posts begin by suggesting “at the very least the ‘possibility'” that the death was a “filmed public execution of a black man by a white cop, with the purpose of creating racial tensions and driving a wedge in the growing group of anti deep state sentiment from comon people.”

It goes on to imply the case is tied to other events — including former Vice President Joe Biden’s controversial remark in which he said if black voters couldn’t choose between him and President Donald Trump, “You ain’t black” — with no factual backing to make those connections. It further ties the Floyd case to what it deems “the COVID-19 fear campaign” falling apart.

Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, dismissed the conspiracy theory in an email to us, saying there was “nothing staged.”

In a phone interview, Joseph Uscinski, an associate professor of political science at the University of Miami who studies conspiracy theories, told us that the theory “has a series of common tropes in it — and one of them is that these things can’t be a coincidence.”

It “appeals to people’s willingness to look for intentionality rather than to understand that sometimes things just happen,” he said. “As shocking as it might seem, we have to realize it’s the same stuff we see all the time” in such conspiracy theories.

One unsupported element in the posts suggests the filming of Floyd’s death was planned, claiming that the “only goal that there appeared to be was exactly what happened: ‘To be filmed brutally killing a black man’.”

But in reality, the viral, 10-minute video of Floyd’s arrest that sparked an outcry was filmed because a 17-year-old woman walking by the arrest noticed that Floyd couldn’t breathe and began recording.

“I was walking my cousin to the store and I just see him on the ground and I’m like what is going on? I pull my camera out, this man cannot … breathe at all,” Darnella Frazier said in a video the next day.

The posts also suggest “[t]here is substantial video evidence to arrest at least one officer now” but that there is “a political advantage not to!”

On May 29, however, as the posts were circulating, officials announced the arrest of Derek Chauvin, who was identified as the police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a press conference that Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

The posts also cite the fact that “a fake Facebook page supposedly belonging to the officer” surfaced with a “picture of the cop with a red ballcap that says ‘Make America White Again.'”

It’s true that a since-deactivated Facebook profile under the name “Derek Chauvin” posted a photo of a man wearing a “Make Whites Great Again” hat — which went viral as users erroneously identified the photo as that of the officer. As we explained when debunking that claim, the person in the photo is actually a man known for creating fake accounts and deceiving people.

Misinformation often flows following tragic, high-profile events. But the falsehood referenced in these posts isn’t proof that the arrest and death were planned.

Another groundless claim in the posts is that George Soros, the billionaire known for funding liberal causes, is tied to the Minneapolis incident: “You can draw your own conclusions, but this appears to have all the earmarks of George Soros. Please open your eyes!!!!”

The posts offer no evidence that Soros has anything to do with the Floyd case. Soros has become the subject of many conspiracy theories.

The posts also attempt to raise eyebrows by referencing the police car’s license plate: “FINALLY….‼️‼️ this entire scene plays out with the cop car and license plate that says ‘POLICE’. The plate was perfectly framed for maximum subliminal impact.”

As we’ve explained, though, many Minneapolis police cars use that license plate because, under Minnesota state law, police vehicles that are clearly marked are not required to display numbered license plates.

In short, there’s plenty of innuendo in the popular Facebook posts — but they offer no evidence for the outrageous claim that Floyd’s arrest and death were “staged.”

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

Fichera, Angelo. “Viral Photos Don’t Show Minneapolis Officer in Floyd Case.” FactCheck.org. 28 May 2020.

“Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin charged with murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.” Press release, Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. 29 May 2020.

Hale Spencer, Saranac. “Minneapolis Police License Plate Doesn’t Raise a ‘False Flag.’” FactCheck.org. 29 May 2020.

Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. “County Attorney Mike Freeman to announce new developments in Floyd death.” Facebook Live video. 29 May 2020. 

“Investigative Update on Critical Incident.” Press release, Minneapolis Police Department. 26 May 2020.

Kroll, Bob. President, Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. Email to FactCheck.org. 29 May 2020.

Mannix, Andy. “What we know about Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao, two of the officers caught on tape in the death of George Floyd.” Star Tribune. 26 May 2020.

NowThis Politics. “Woman Who Captured George Floyd Killing, Darnella Frazier, Returns To Scene.” Facebook. 27 May 2020. 

Uscinski, Joseph. Associate professor of political science, University of Miami. Phone interview with FactCheck.org. 29 May 2020.

Oprysko, Caitlin. “Clyburn says he ‘cringed’ at Biden’s ‘you ain’t black’ gaffe but reiterates support.” Politico. 26 May 2020.

The post Baseless Conspiracy Theory Claims Floyd Case Was ‘Staged’ appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

Social media posts incorrectly claim that Minneapolis police license plates “dont say POLICE,” and that proves the death of George Floyd was a planned event. Actually, many police vehicles in Minneapolis have that license plate.

Full Story

The death of George Floyd — which came after a police officer kneeled on his neck, an incident that was captured on cellphone video — has sparked strong reactions. In some corners of the internet, those reactions have become conspiracy theories.

One such conspiracy theory claims that the incident was a “false flag,” which means that it was a planned event intended to hide the identity of the group that actually carried it out. The primary piece of evidence for this theory is that the police vehicle shown in the video of actions that led up to Floyd’s death has a license plate that reads, “POLICE.”

A popular screenshot meme spreading this theory on Facebook says: “Police PLATES dont say POLICE.”

But in Minneapolis, they do.

Pictures from the Minneapolis Police Department’s Facebook page and media coverage over the years show that many official vehicles for the department have license plates that bear the word “POLICE.”

Under Minnesota state law, police vehicles that are clearly marked are not required to display numbered license plates.

The claim about the plates appears to have originated on a Twitter account that refers in its bio to QAnon, a wide-ranging conspiracy theory that holds President Donald Trump as a champion against the so-called “deep state.”

That account deleted the original tweet, explaining, “Im taking this down because or the Plate theory being inacurate and the rest of the statementa not being answered.”

But that hasn’t stopped others from circulating a screenshot of the original tweet as a meme on Facebook, where it’s been shared with comments such as, “Indeed. An assassination staged as police brutality in order to destroy law and order, frame the Police Department, and ‘become ungovernable’ in order to usher in Anarchy and FORCE a Civil War… #FalseFlag.”

Not only that, but this bogus claim that has been retracted by the original poster is also getting wrapped up with other similarly flawed conspiracy theories about Floyd’s death.

These “false flag” claims often circulate online following national tragedies. We debunked similar claims after James Alex Fields Jr. drove his car into a crowd demonstrating in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing Heather Heyer, and after Stephen Craig Paddock opened fire on more than 22,000 people attending an outdoor concert in Las Vegas.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

City of Minneapolis. Press release. “City leaders plead for peace, acknowledge deep pain in community following death of George Floyd.” 28 May 2020.

LaFrance, Adrienne. The Atlantic. “The Prophecies of Q — American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase.” 14 May 2020.

Minneapolis Police Department. Facebook page. Accessed 28 May 2020.

Schaedel, Sydney. FactCheck.org. “Charlottesville Driver a Clinton Supporter?” 22 Aug 2017.

Hale Spencer, Saranac. FactCheck.org. “No Evidence Linking Vegas Shooter to Antifa.” 5 Oct 2017.

The post Minneapolis Police License Plate Doesn’t Raise a ‘False Flag’ appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

Politically charged social media posts have wrongly identified pictures as showing the Minneapolis police officer who was seen kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, who died shortly after. The two photos circulating do not show the officer, Derek Chauvin.

Full Story 

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, following his arrest on May 25 has prompted uproar and protests in the city’s streets.

Floyd, a black man, died shortly after he was detained by officers. A video of the arrest emerged in which Floyd can be heard repeatedly saying, “I cannot breathe,” as an officer kneels on his neck for several minutes. The Minneapolis Police Department has confirmed in a statement that the FBI will investigate, and the city’s mayor said that the “four responding MPD officers involved in the death of George Floyd have been terminated.”

But the furor online has at times been accompanied by politically charged misinformation about the officer at the center of the case, Derek Chauvin — who was identified in news reports as the officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck.

Viral posts on Facebook and Twitter have falsely claimed that two different photos, of two different men, show Chauvin. They don’t.

In one case, a photo of a man whom social media users purported to be Chauvin is seen wearing a red hat reading, “Make Whites Great Again.”

“Does this surprise any of you?” reads one Facebook meme showing the picture alongside a screenshot of Chauvin from the video of Floyd’s arrest. The rapper Ice Cube also shared the two photos side by side on Twitter, writing: “A wolf in wolves clothing. The demons are among us. #Fightthecowards.” His tweet was shared more than 50,000 times. 

The man in the hat, however, is not Chauvin. The man was later identified by HuffPost reporter Luke O’Brien as Jonathan Lee Riches, who is known for his penchant for filing lawsuits. O’Brien profiled Riches in a 2019 story.

Riches has “filed thousands of actions in federal courts throughout the country, most of which have been dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted,” a Montana federal judge wrote while dismissing a 2016 complaint he filed against then-candidate Donald Trump. In that complaint, Riches said he supported Trump “100%” and “I love Donald Trump like a brother/father,” but sought an order to stop him from running for president because he feared for Trump’s safety.

The HuffPost story on Riches detailed his “trolling” practices, including setting up fake social media accounts.

The photo of Riches was posted on a since-deactivated Facebook account under the name “Derek Chauvin” on May 26, one day after Floyd’s death, with a caption “Better times.” That profile is no longer active.

We reached out through Riches’ Facebook profile directly for comment and didn’t hear back. But an account connected to his — one for “Joseph A Camp” — which spent the day May 27 posting about the viral photo and the news coverage it spawned did get back to us. (The Camp and Riches profiles list one another as a domestic partner on Facebook, though Camp said they are not actually in a domestic partnership.)

Camp said in a message: “JLR(c) and I are political satirical artist who are both well known for massive controversial satire” and that “JLR(c) is the individual in the image.” He claimed the hat in the viral image had been photoshopped — though he couldn’t provide an original photo to support that claim.

We asked whether Riches created the “Derek Chauvin” account that posted the photo, and Camp said: “I can’t confirm or deny if JLR(c) created the account in question, but I will confirm that Mr. Riches has been accused or assumed to have created massive social media profiles, groups, and pages in an attempt to use satire to prove a point.”

Separately, another viral photo shows an arrow pointing at a man at a Trump rally, and appeared with captions identifying the man as Chauvin. The rally photo was taken at an October 2019 campaign rally in Minneapolis and shows attendees wearing shirts reading, “Cops for Trump.”

But Minneapolis Police Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis who is also seen in the photo, told the Associated Press that “none of the officers in the [George Floyd] incident were near the Trump rally.” He said the individual in the rally photo is actually Michael Gallagher, president of the Bloomington Police Officers Federation.

Kroll and Gallagher didn’t return our requests for comment.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here.

Sources

Frey, Jacob (@MayorFrey). “Four responding MPD officers involved in the death of George Floyd have been terminated. This is the right call.” Twitter. 26 May 2020.

Ibrahim, Mukhtar M. “‘Trump hates us’: President’s Minneapolis visit gets no welcome from Minnesota Somalis.” Sahan Journal/MPR News. 11 Oct 2019.

“Investigative Update on Critical Incident.” Press release, Minneapolis Police Department. 26 May 2020.

“Pres. Trump brings Mpls. police Lt. Bob Kroll on stage.” KARE 11 News. YouTube. 10 Oct 2019. 

Mannix, Andy. “What we know about Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao, two of the officers caught on tape in the death of George Floyd.” Star Tribune. 26 May 2020.

Michels, Scott and Sarah Netter. “World’s Most Litigious Man Suing Guinness Book of World Records?” ABC News. 12 May 2009.

O’Brien, Luke. “Anyone Can Get Trolled — Even The New Yorker.” HuffPost. 4 Mar 2019.

O’Brien, Luke (@lukeobrien). “Riches just emailed me. That pic of him began circulating after he found people harassing Chauvin’s wife on FB and tried to intervene, he claims. FB users assumed he was a relative. ‘Took a photo of me & spread it like I was [Chauvin].’ (He also claims the hat is photoshopped.).” Twitter. 27 May 2020.

Swenson, Ali. “Officer who kneeled on black man’s neck was not onstage at Minneapolis Trump rally.” Associated Press. 28 May 2020.

The post Viral Photos Don’t Show Minneapolis Officer in Floyd Case appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

Facebook posts shared by thousands of people make the unsupported assertion that “3 Muslim congress women” are refusing to uphold the Constitution.

Full Story

The 116th Congress, which will convene next month, will include a record 102 women serving in the House — two of whom will be the first Muslim women to serve in Congress.

The new representatives will take an oath of office, not just as a matter of tradition, but as a constitutional obligation.

The oath, the same since 1966, reads:

5 U.S. Code § 3331 – Oath of office: I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

That’s not all. Since the 80th Congress (1947-1949), representatives also have been required by federal law to sign two copies of the oath — “one to be filed in the records of the House of Representatives, and the other to be recorded in the Journal of the House and in the Congressional Record.” U.S. Code also says the copies are considered “conclusive proof of the fact that the signer duly took the oath of office in accordance with law.”

Even though the swearing-in ceremonies won’t happen until Jan. 3, social media posts shared by thousands on Facebook have spread the unsupported claim that “3 Muslim congress women” have “refused” to uphold the Constitution. There is no evidence to back up that claim.

Also, it’s two — not three — Muslim women who will serve in the House. Democrats Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib were elected in November to represent congressional districts in Minnesota and Michigan, respectively. They will join Rep. André Carson, a Democrat from Indiana, who is also Muslim.

Tlaib, for her part, has already made public her preparations for taking the oath. She plans to wear a traditional Palestinian dress, known as a thobe, made by her mother, the Detroit Free Press reported. The newspaper also reported Tlaib “is expected to use a copy of Thomas Jefferson’s Koran — which belongs to the Library of Congress — for her ceremonial swearing in.”

Departing Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat who in 2006 became the first Muslim elected to Congress, also used Jefferson’s book for his ceremonial oath — which follows the official group swearing-in. No religious text is required to take the oath of office.

Omar, who will take Ellison’s seat in Congress, has said that she will probably use a Koran at the swearing-in. Her campaign told us in an email that the claims in the posts are “not true.”

Misinformation about Muslims and public office is nothing new.

Another recent falsehood we debunked, for example, claimed that a 1952 law “bans Muslims from holding public office in the United States.” It doesn’t.

In fact, Article VI of the Constitution, which requires federally elected officials to be “bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution,” stipulates that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on the social media network.

Update, Dec. 20: This story has been updated to include a response from Omar’s campaign.

Sources

2 U.S. Code § 25 – Oath of Speaker, Members, and Delegates. U.S. Government Publishing Office. Accessed 19 Dec 2018.

5 U.S. Code § 3331 – Oath of office. U.S. Government Publishing Office. Accessed 19 Dec 2018.

Article VI, U.S. Constitution. Constitution Center. Accessed 19 Dec 2018.

Boorstein, Michelle. “First two Muslim women win congressional seats from Minnesota, Michigan.” Washington Post. 7 Nov 2018.

DeSilver, Drew. “A record number of women will be serving in the new Congress.” Pew Research Center. 18 Dec 2018.

“Oath of Office.” Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives. Accessed 19 Dec 2018.

Spangler, Todd. “Rashida Tlaib will wear traditional Palestinian thobe to swearing-in.” Detroit Free Press. 18 Dec 2018.

Karnowski, Steve. “Congress bound, Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar enjoys another first.” Associated Press. 7 Nov 2018.

The post False Claim Targets Muslim Congresswomen-Elect appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Quick Take

A popular website that spreads misinformation and conspiracy theories has twisted old news about a hate crimes hotline to create a bogus, anti-Muslim headline.

Full Story

In June 2017, Minneapolis opened a new hotline for reporting hate crimes.

Why does that matter in 2018? Because on Nov. 27, a website known for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories posted a story with the headline: “Minneapolis Installs Sharia Hotline to Report Americans Who Criticize Islam.”

It’s typical for purveyors of misinformation to take old news, like the announcement of this hotline, and twist it to create an incendiary, clickbait headline that is based on a kernel of truth. The site that posted this story, News Punch, used to be called YourNewsWire, which we’ve written about several times before.

Their method works, too. The News Punch story has been shared on social media pages with a combined following of 2.6 million, while a copy of the story that was posted on another website, The Liberty Eagle, has been shared on social media pages with a combined following of 2.2 million, according to data from CrowdTangle.

But the headline isn’t true. Minneapolis didn’t create a “Sharia hotline to report Americans who criticize Islam.”

Rather, the city started a hotline for reporting hate crimes, which it defined as “any crime against a person or property motivated by prejudice against someone’s race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity. This includes prejudice-motivated property damage (including graffiti), stalking and assault.”

The story that follows the false headline does include some accurate information, although it is mixed with misinformation, and is lifted largely from a right-wing website called WND that wrote about the hotline shortly after it was announced in 2017. WND describes itself as “a fiercely independent news site committed to hard-hitting investigative reporting of government waste,” but it was one of the sites to advance the thoroughly debunked “birther” conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the U.S.

One example of accurate information mixing with misinformation shows up in both the WND story and the News Punch story. They each cite a real statement from Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Director Velma Korbel, who said after the 2016 election: “Since the general election, many of us have experienced, witnessed firsthand or heard of actions of: racism, xenophobia, sexism and bigotry directed at people here and in cities across the United States. In no uncertain terms, hate-motivated speech and actions have no place in Minneapolis nor will they be tolerated. Activities such as these are against the law. No one is above the law.”

But both stories introduce the quote by claiming that the hotline would “target” supporters of President Donald Trump. That’s not true.

Korbel’s statement says that there had been an increase in “hate-motivated speech and actions” since Trump was elected. Reported incidents of hate crimes rose by 17 percent nationally in 2017, according to the FBI’s annual hate crime statistics report released on Nov. 13. In Minnesota, there was a 23 percent increase in 2017, compared to the year before.

The News Punch story also wrongly says Minneapolis is “run by Democrat Mayor Besty [sic] Hodges.” Betsy Hodges was the mayor when WND posted its story, but Jacob Frey is the current mayor. He took office in January.

After publishing the story, News Punch changed its headline to say: “Minneapolis Installs ‘Sharia’ Hotline to Report ‘Hate Speech’ About Islam.” It’s still not true that it’s a “‘Sharia’ hotline,” and it isn’t true that the hotline is solely for reporting “‘hate speech’ about Islam.” Instead, it is for reporting hate crimes of any kind.

As of this writing, the Liberty Eagle still had the original headline on its website.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on the social media network.

Sources

“New hotline to report hate crimes: call 311 from inside Minneapolis or 612-673-3000.” Press release. Minneapolismn.gov. 19 Jun 2017.

Dmitry, Baxter. “Minneapolis Installs ‘Sharia’ Hotline to Report ‘Hate Speech’ About Islam.” NewsPunch.com. 27 Nov 2018.

“IS OBAMA CONSTITUTIONALLY ELIGIBLE TO SERVE? WND’s complete archive of news reports on the issue.” WND.com. 15 Jun 2012.

Robertson, Lori. “Indeed, Born in the U.S.A.” FactCheck.org. 27 Apr 2011.

“2017 Hate Crime Statistics Released — Report Shows More Departments Reporting Hate Crime Statistics.” Press Release. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 13 Nov 2018.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2017 Hate Crimes Statistics — Agency Hate Crime Reporting by State. 13 Nov 2018.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2016 Hate Crimes Statistics — Agency Hate Crime Reporting by State. 13 Nov 2017.

The post Hate Crimes Hotline Headline Is Wrong appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Q: A meme circulating online attributes an inflammatory remark about white men to congresswoman-elect Ilhan Omar. Did she actually say that?

A: No. The meme falsely attributes a fictitious quote to Omar.

FULL ANSWER

Ilhan Omar was one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress this month.

The Somali-American, who will represent Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House, has not shied away from her faith. She recently announced plans to challenge a 181-year-old ban on hats in the House so that she can wear her religious headscarf.

But a meme distributed through posts on Facebook uses Omar’s religion to spread a fictitious and inflammatory quote, juxtaposing the falsehood alongside an actual statement she made last year.

The meme, which shows Omar on the Sept. 18, 2017, cover of Time magazine, erroneously asserts that she said, “I think all white men should be put in chains as slaves because they will never submit to Islam.”

We could find no such quote by Omar in her Time interview — part of the magazine’s series, “FIRSTS: Women Who Are Changing the World.” Nor could we find evidence that Omar had said that elsewhere.

Omar, currently a Minnesota state representative, did make the other statement included in the meme: “I am America’s hope and the president’s nightmare.” Omar said that during a July 2017 interview with Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah.

The meme was also shared widely on Twitter, where Omar responded to such tweets, including one that labeled her a “terrorist.”

“Who said facts mattered?” she wrote, with an emoji shrug.

https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1064353633188364288

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on the social media network.

Sources

“Ilhan Omar – Fighting for a better life for all Americans – Extended Interview.” The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Comedy Central. 13 Jul 2017.

“Meet Ilhan.” IlhanOmar.com. Accessed 19 Nov 2018.

Omar, Ilhan (@IlhanMN). “No one puts a scarf on my head but me. It’s my choice—one protected by the first amendment. And this is not the last ban I’m going to work to lift.” Twitter. 17 Nov 2018.

Omar, Ilhan (@IlhanMN). “Who said facts mattered?” Twitter. 18 Nov 2018.

“TIME FIRSTS | Ilhan Omar.” Time. Accessed 19 Nov 2018.

Watkins, Eli. “First Muslim women in Congress: Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.” CNN. 6 Nov 2018.

The post False Quote Attributed to Rep.-Elect Ilhan Omar appeared first on FactCheck.org.

Sen. Al Franken said Republican Roy Moore — who has been accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls — is running for the U.S. Senate “with the full support of his party.” That’s not entirely accurate.

Moore has the support of President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee. But he doesn’t have the support of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and numerous Republican senators.

In a speech from the Senate floor, Franken announced that he would resign “in the coming weeks” after several women accused him of improper behavior, including groping and unwanted kissing. “Some of the allegations against me are simply not true; others, I remember very differently,” the Democratic senator said in his resignation speech.

Franken, Dec. 7: Nevertheless, today I am announcing that in the coming weeks I will be resigning as a member of the United States Senate. I, of all people, am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving, while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the — with the full support of his party.

Franken was referring to Trump and Roy Moore, a former state judge who is running for the U.S. Senate in a special election that will be held on Dec. 12.

In a Nov. 9 report that scrambled the Alabama Senate race, Leigh Corfman told the Washington Post that Moore initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14 years old and Moore was 32. Since then, several other women have stepped forward to accuse Moore of improper behavior when they were teenagers. Moore has repeatedly denied the allegations.

The allegations against Moore have split the Republican Party, contrary to Franken’s claim that the GOP candidate has the “full support of his party.”

The Republican National Committee initially withdrew its support for Moore, pulling out of a joint fundraising agreement that it had with the candidate. But it reversed course and agreed to help Moore, providing at least $170,000 in funding so far. The reversal came on the same day that the president called Moore and endorsed him.

Still, there are those in the party who oppose Moore’s candidacy.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee — a party committee that supports Republican senators and candidates — announced it would not help Moore raise money, and NRSC chairman, Sen. Cory Gardner, urged Moore to withdraw from the race.

“If he refuses to withdraw and wins, the Senate should vote to expel him, because he does not meet the ethical and moral requirements of the United States Senate,” Gardner said in a Nov. 13 statement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell initially urged Moore to drop out of the race, too, saying he believed Moore’s accusers. On Dec. 3, McConnell appeared to soften his opposition during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” Asked if Moore should be in the Senate, McConnell said, “I’m going to let the people of Alabama make the call.” Two days later, the Republican leader said he had “no change of heart” on Moore’s candidacy.

After the RNC reversed its position on Moore, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse criticized the RNC for making a “bad decision,” and warned the NRSC not to follow suit. Sasse threatened to stop fundraising for and donating to the NRSC if it supported Moore. But Gardner, the NRSC chairman, reiterated on Dec. 7 that the committee “will never endorse” Moore.

In addition to McConnell, Sasse and Gardner, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby disclosed on Nov. 28 that he cast an absentee ballot for a write-in candidate that he would only describe as “a distinguished Republican … not Judge Moore.”

More recently, Sen. Jeff Flake tweeted an image of a $100 check he wrote on Dec. 5 to Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, writing the words “country over party” in the memo field.

In all, at least 16 of the 52 Republican senators have said they do not support Moore, according to a list compiled by New York magazine.

The post Al Franken on GOP Support for Roy Moore appeared first on FactCheck.org.