Social media users are sharing a screenshot of a ‘news article’ that falsely claims that President-elect Joe Biden ‘resigned’. This article was created on a Web site using fake news generators.
Examples are visible here, here, here.
While some users reject the claim, others seem to take the content seriously, with comments such as: ‘This is the most honorable thing he’s ever done’ and ‘He’s retiring, but not for these reasons. He was caught and they took pity on him ”.
The alleged article, titled “President Elect Joe Biden retires as President Elect”, bears a timestamp of “17:35 01-01-21” and was reportedly reported by “Fox” of “Atlanta”.
It begins: “The new president, elected Joe Biden, has resigned as president after consulting with his family and legal team over an unspecified health issue.” The article further states that Biden’s ‘advisers and legal team’ would make an official announcement tonight at 21:00.
Reuters has found no evidence that this is a legitimate article by Fox or any other media. A Google search for the headline brought up other factual articles that deny this claim.
The design of the logo and the layout of the text correspond to those created by the website “Channel 45 news” (here). The screenshot circulating appears to capture the mobile version of the fake article.
Since January 1, President-elect Joe Biden and the President’s Office have made several statements, some of which are visible ( here , here , here , here )
Democrat Joe Biden is expected to be sworn in as U.S. president on January 20. Congress confirmed to the Electoral College that the results of the states were confirmed early on January 7, showing that Biden will win the game on November 3 against President Donald Trump (here). .
VERDICT
Untrue. Elected President Joe Biden has not resigned and is expected to be sworn in on January 20. In reports that share this claim, a fake article is created with a fake news generator.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.