Did U.S. Marines forcibly block the Federal Emergency Management Agency from providing tornado relief in Omaha, Nebraska, in April 2024? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is false. It originally showed up in an article on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content.
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on April 28, 2024, titled "Marines Ambush FEMA Brigands in Storm-Stricken Nebraska" (archived here). It began:
A White Hat blockade prevented an armed FEMA convoy from entering the tornado-ravaged suburb of Elkhorn, Nebraska, Saturday morning after a violent twister outbreak razed hundreds of homes and businesses and left citizens stunned and clamoring for necessities such as food, water, shelter, and electricity.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
(Source: RealRawNews.com screenshot taken on Wed May 1 15:55:58 2024 UTC)
A Pentagon duty officer responded via email on May 1, 2024, to Lead Stories' question about the claim, writing:
The claim is false.
Lead Stories also contacted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a statement regarding the claim. A FEMA spokesperson responded via a May 1, 2024, email, writing:
This rumor is absolutely false.
Lead Stories also reached out to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) regarding the claim and will update this story if a response is received.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on Google News, visible here (archived here), which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks that mention the U.S. Marines Corps and FEMA can be found here.
Real Raw News
Real Raw News has a long history of publishing false claims in mock news stories, many of them about convictions and executions of various public figures at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. For example, the site reported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hanged (she wasn't); former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta was executed (he wasn't); and "the military" convicted former Attorney General William Barr on charges of treason (it didn't).
The website for Real Raw News includes a disclaimer that declares the site does not stand by the contents of the stories, calling them entertainment. Specifically, it says:
Information on this website is for informational and educational and entertainment purposes. ... We have included this disclaimer for our protection, on the advice on legal counsel.
(Source: RealRawNews.com screenshot taken Tue Aug 3 16:39:48 UTC 2021)
Lead Stories has covered claims published by Real Raw News in the past. Previous Lead Stories debunks of Real Raw News items are collected here.
