A fake news website is claiming Trump's recent executive order on immigration has lead to the capture of a terror suspect named Rasheed Muhammad.
The article opens like this:
Terror suspect, Rasheed Muhammad, was arrested on Tuesday, January 30, at approximately 1:32AM EST at John F. Kennedy International Airport. This marks the first successful story following President Trump's executive order to protect the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States. Muhammad, 32, was questioned due to the heightened security measures that resulted from the presidential executive order. The suspect attempted to enter the country with a tourist visa and claimed to be visiting family in order to attend this year's Super Bowl LI.
The story is definitely fake, even though fact checking websites like Snopes haven't debunked this hoax yet at the time of writing. There are several important clues that indicate the article is made up:
- The source: the website times.com.mx appears to be imitating the look and feel of The New York times but there is no official 'Times' newspaper in Mexico.
- The site has spread fake news before.
- The photo going with the article is actually of a different terror suspect being arrested: Najibullah Zazi (who is affiliated with Al Qaeda, not with ISIS)
- The actual leader of ISIS is known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Besides that, none of the quotes attributed to people can be found anywhere else online. Sally Yates probably did not say:
I would like to express a sincere and utter apology to President Donald J. Trump. Due to unforeseen circumstances, there is no way I could have predicted the outcome of the situation. If afforded the opportunity to continue my position as Attorney General, I would be more than ecstatic to comply.
And James Comey presumably did not utter te words:
We are unsure if accomplices are still at large. Until matters are addressed, we will keep additional details from the public eye. The security of our nation is the number one priority.
Very convenient that there won't be an official press statement for some time according to the article. Well, at least that part is true...
So far it seems the fake article hasn't spread very far according to Trendolizer. Let's see if we can stop it... (UPDATE: it seems like at least one other fake news website has copied the article already. UPDATE II: more fake sites picking it up.).
