President Donald Trump posted a quote on Truth Social on Monday night attributed to Sen. John Kennedy that claimed former President Barack Obama was part of an illegal Obamacare moneymaking scheme.
The claim is baseless. What’s more, the quote isn’t even real. Kennedy has never said anything like it, the senator and his office confirmed to NOTUS.
“Somebody told me there was something floating around on the internet about me accusing President Obama of stealing $120 million or something,” Kennedy told NOTUS. “I didn’t say that. I don’t know the basis of it.”
Trump has often used his social media accounts to spread falsehoods. His Truth Social account is a mix of major policy and official personnel decisions, online memes and praise for his allies. In recent months, the president’s habit of posting random images and videos has sparked controversies, even in his own circles, like when he shared a photo that appeared to depict him as Jesus, or a video depicting the Obamas as monkeys.
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Trump’s post of the fabricated Kennedy quote, with a timestamp of 10:23 p.m. ET Monday, came within minutes of him circulating other dubious claims.
At 10:22 p.m., the president shared a years-old segment from right-wing cable network One America News Network, where an anchor makes a debunked claim that “election systems across the U.S. are found to have deleted millions of votes cast for President Trump.”
At 10:29 p.m., the president shared unverifiable claims about Sidney Powell, a conservative lawyer known for promoting baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, whom he pardoned last year from federal charges.
Regarding the president’s posts about the 2020 election, the White House requested that NOTUS run the following response in full.
“The American people deserve free and fair elections — without them, we won’t have a country. President Trump and his entire team are committed to ensuring a U.S. election can never, ever be rigged again,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.
The White House did not comment on the president’s posting of the fabricated Kennedy quote about Obama. But a quick online search will find that the Obama claims appear to be part of a widespread fake news campaign. Multiple Facebook accounts have posted similar fake quotes attributed to others in the Trump administration, including U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Even country music star Shania Twain’s name has popped up — “Obama has three days to respond before Twain says the matter will be referred to the Department of Justice for formal review,” says one Facebook post dated March 28.
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