'Trump assassination foiled, Deep State in panic mode!'
A blog post that's been shared widely on social media paints a dramatic, early morning scene - and all of it is bogus. Around 3 a.m. on Jan. 26, according to a site called Real Raw News, a sniper's bullet struck the window of former President Donald Trump's bedroom at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Fla. 'Trump assassination foiled, Deep State in panic mode!' the headline says. Citing 'a confidential source within Trump's inner circle,' the blog goes on to say that the bullet 'triggered a silent alarm that instantly notified the Palm Beach Police Dept. and Trump's Secret Service detail.' The blog goes on: 'Trump's people suspect the attack was carried out by the Deep State, to stop Trump from amassing incriminating evidence that, if released, could sink every Democrat from Joe Biden to the most junior member of the Democratic caucus.' This post was flagged as part of Facebook's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) Both the Secret Service and the Palm Beach Police Department told PolitiFact that this blog post is bunk. 'The narrative presented here is completely false,' a spokesperson for the Secret Service said. And the police department, which was supposedly alerted by this bullet, received 'no such information,' said spokesperson Michael Ogrodnick. We found no news coverage to support the account in this blog post. Previous episodes involving weapons and gunfire at Mar-a-Lago during Trump's presidency were widely covered in the news. In August 2020, for example, three teens were arrested after inadvertently entering the resort with a loaded assault rifle, according to BBC News. In January 2020, officers fired at a vehicle that crashed through two security checkpoints at Mar-a-Lago. But there's nothing that supports claims of a Deep State plot to assassinate the former president in January 2021. We rate this blog post False. UPDATE (Feb. 5, 2021): This story has been updated to include comment from the Secret Service. The ruling is unchanged.
We rate this blog post False. UPDATE (Feb. 5, 2021): This story has been updated to include comment from the Secret Service. The ruling is unchanged.