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House delivers Trump indictment to Senate
The case for the House indictment against Donald Trump has been handed over to the Senate for its upcoming trial. House Democratic prosecutors made the ceremonial walk across the Capitol late Monday to deliver the charge of inciting insurgency. (January 25)
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The claim: musician Ted Nugent has written a viral writer criticizing Joe Biden
Social media users share a letter criticizing President Joe Biden and rejecting his election victory. The author of the letter, according to them falsely, is the musician Ted Nugent.
“Ted Nugent Joe Biden wrote a letter via Facebook moments ago and it’s going viral fast,” a Facebook user wrote on January 24. The post has been shared 1,400 times. USA TODAY directed the user for comment.
Letter suggests unclaimed claims
In the letter to ‘Vice President Biden’, the author claims that Biden’s ‘criminal dishonesty is treason’ and that ‘this Trump supporter’ will not unite with the Democratic Party.
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“Although I refused to listen to it, I understand that during your presidential acceptance speech you asked for the unity of Trump supporters. “I remember four years ago my president Trump also called for unity,” the letter begins.
The letter also alleges that Biden and the Democratic Party stole Trump’s election. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud and these claims have been exposed several times.
Nugent did not write the letter
Versions of the viral letter have been circulating on Facebook since early November. Although some users have recently re-posted it with the name of Nugent, there is no author in older posts.
“Mr. Nugent did NOT write the play,” Nugent spokeswoman Linda Peterson said in a statement.
Reports claiming Nugent was the author could have surfaced after Nugent redistributed the letter on November 18. He does not claim to be the author of the letter in the Facebook post.
Reuters and Snopes also made similar claims.
Who’s Ted Nugent?
Nugent, an American rock singer, is known for his conservative and defiant attitudes.
After Nugent organized a “March for Our Lives” demonstration for the survivors of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, he called the survivors stricter gun control, calling them “poor, porridge porridge children” who have ‘no soul’.
Nugent regularly praises former President Donald Trump’s political style.
“Donald Trump is as close to Ted Nugent as you will ever get in politics,” Nugent said in April on the conservative network The First.
More: Fact check: members of the national guard did not deviate in contrast to Biden’s Inauguration Day motor bridge
Since Biden was sworn in on January 20, Nugent has shared posts on Facebook criticizing the new government.
“New predictions about the consequences of the Biden presidency: unemployment is rising, energy and food costs are rising, real wages are shrinking, freedoms are being severely curtailed or lost …” reads a January 22 report.
USA TODAY has previously denied that Nugent wrote a viral “Take a knee” essay on national anthem demonstrations.
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Our rating: false
The allegation that Ted Nugent wrote a viral letter to President Joe Biden is FALSE, based on our research. Nugent’s spokesman confirmed that he did not write the letter and that he only shared it on Facebook. Versions of the viral letter have been circulating on Facebook since early November before Nugent shared the report.
Our fact-checking sources:
- USA TODAY, December 15, 2020, “Fact Check: Joe Biden Legally Wins Presidential Election, Despite Persistent Conflicting Claims”
- Statement by Linda Peterson, spokesperson for Ted Nugent, January 25
- Ted Nugent, 18 November 2020, Facebook post
- Reuters, January 25, “Fact check: Ted Nugent shared but did not write a letter to Biden that went viral”
- Snopes, Jan. 6, “Did Ted Nugent write an open letter to Joe Biden?”
- USA TODAY, March 31, 2018, “Ted Nugent strikes ‘porridge broken’ Parkland survivors: ‘They have no soul'”
- The first, April 22, 2020, “Ted Nugent’s Assessment On Joe Biden”
- Ted Nugent, January 22, Facebook post
- USA TODAY, June 30, 2020, “Fact check: Ted Nugent did not write a viral report about athletes because they knelt”
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Our fact-checking work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.