Judge struck down Biden’s pardons of Fauci, Cheney, Schiff? No, that’s satire

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Judge struck down Biden’s pardons of Fauci, Cheney, Schiff? No, that’s satire

The claim: Judge ruled Biden’s preemptive pardons unconstitutional

A Jan. 23

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post (

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,

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) includes an image showing four people – retired Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Sen. Adam Schiff and former Rep. Liz Cheney – who were pardoned by former President Joe Biden.

“Breaking News, News Update, BIDEN PARDONS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL!” reads text in the image. “7th Circuit Judge Joseph Barron ruled that there is no provision to pardon someone who hasn’t been formally charged, laying the foundation to have the pardons expunged.”

The

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post received more than 80,000 likes in five days. Similar versions of the claim

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.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims |

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Our rating: False

The claim originated on a satirical website. There is no judge with that name on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and no record of any court ruling related to the constitutionality of the pardons.

Claim about Biden’s pardons originated on satirical website

Biden marked the final hours of his presidency with an unprecedented move, issuing blanket preemptive pardons to several of Trump’s potential targets, including the four people shown in the

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image. While none have been charged with a crime, all were thought to potentially face retribution from Trump during his second term.

The

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post’s claim that a 7th Circuit judge quickly determined those pardons violate the constitution, however, is false.

Fact check: Biden used ‘end of quote’ after citing Eisenhower in farewell address

It originated from a

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by America’s Last Line of Defense, which operates a network of satirical websites. Its

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that “nothing on this page is real.” The post includes an image that matches the one shared on

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but includes a watermark in the lower-left corner that identifies it as satire. That watermark was cropped out of the version in the

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post.

The claim itself unravels with a closer look at some of its details.

The post attributes the purported ruling to “Judge Joseph Barron,” but there are

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. “Joe Barron” is a name frequently used in claims stemming from the

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account and from articles published by its satirical website, the Dunning-Kruger Times, which states on its “About Us” page that

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. Additionally, there is no record of a ruling related to Biden or to the constitutionality of any of the pardons he awarded on the

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since Jan. 18.

The

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post is an example of what could be called “stolen satire,” where content originally written and presented as satire is reposted in a way that makes it appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.

USA TODAY previously debunked false claims that former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush pardoned relatives and that an authentic headline says Biden “exemplifies the gospel” by pardoning his son, Hunter Biden.

USA TODAY reached out to several social media users who shared the image but did not immediately receive any responses.

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 of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a 

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:

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#Judge #struck #Bidens #pardons #Fauci #Cheney #Schiff #satire

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