As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) dealt with an unprecedented nationwide ground stop on Friday, a hoax about Trump and his top aides has gone viral.
Multiple posts on social media claimed that Donald Trump and top officials in his administration have been moved to a bunker due to a potential threat. One of the voices that amplified the claim was far-right commentator and former Trump ally, Alex Jones. Jones claimed that a cyberattack purportedly caused the outage, and that Trump and other officials were moved to a bunker fearing more attacks.
FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon that a cyberattack or AI malfunction was not behind the outage. Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, attributed it to a possible error by a contractor or an equipment failure. Both have ruled out foul play as a possible cause as probe continues.
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Debunking viral bunker claim
{{/usCountry}}Also read: Israeli spy chief visits US as Netanyahu seeks to build pressure on Trump to resume Iran war
Debunking viral bunker claim
{{/usCountry}}Deep Dive
Was Donald Trump moved to a bunker during the FAA outage?
Was the FAA outage caused by a cyberattack?
How did the false bunker claim about Trump spread?
The claim about Trump being moved to a bunker seemed to have originated in social media accounts prompting far-right theories. Alex Jones claimed that Trump was "holed up in the White House" amid the outage.
"President Trump is holed up in the White House while historic mass cyber attacks are taking down major systems across the United States and the DHS is putting out the ridiculous cover story that a loose wire has caused all of this," Jones wrote.
What further amplified the claim was a news story on the website AlertNet. The story foregrounded a remark by a former Homeland Security analyst and whistleblower suggesting that Trump has moved to a figurative bunker after the Republican losses in the midterms.
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“Like any wannabe autocrat, you end up in the figurative bunker at the end of the regime with the most hardcore loyalists, which tend to be the people who are willing to contort themselves into whatever shape the leader wants,” the ex-DHS analyst, Miles Taylor told The Guardian amid the FAA outage.
Though the story on AlertNet clearly specified that Taylor was talking about a "figurative bunker," the thumbnail gave the impression that Trump was moved to one.
Trump is spending the weekend in the White House with no major events scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. He reacted to the FAA outage on Friday evening itself, ruling out cyberattack as a possible cause behind it.
The hoax about Trump being moved to the bunker comes hours after a similar hoax was spread about Todd Blanche, the acting US Attorney General.