Did Nancy Pelosi order Attorney General Barr to be placed under "congressional detention"? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to educate gullible Trump supporters and Republicans about the need to actually click and read links before sharing or liking them in order to avoid being embarrassed by fans of the site later. All the events described in the article are not real.
The story originated from an article published on May 9, 2019 titled "Pelosi Issues Order to Place Barr Under 'Congressional Detention'" (archived here) which opened:
Thursday afternoon, the Democratic Congress' harassment of Attorney General Barr continues, as Speaker Nancy "Bourbon Babe" Pelosi issued an order placing him under "Congressional Detention", a rare power of the Speakership that has only been used once, back in 1905, when Templeton Peck placed Harding's AG Johnston Featherass in the same position for refusing to empty his own chamber pot in the West Wing.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Pelosi Issues Order to Place Barr Under 'Congressional Detention'
Thursday afternoon, the Democratic Congress' harassment of Attorney General Barr continues, as Speaker Nancy "Bourbon Babe" Pelosi issued an order placing him under "Congres...
The site comes with a clear satire disclaimer at the bottom of each article:
sat·ire ~ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
If you disagree with the definition of satire or have decided it is synonymous with "comedy," you should really just move along.
In addition to that the article was published in a category named "Nancy Pelosi the Alcoholic Fan Fiction".
Despite this, at least one website copied the story as if it was real (archived here):
Pelosi Issues Order to Place Barr Under 'Congressional Detention'
Thursday afternoon, the Democratic Congress' harassment of Attorney General Barr continues, as Speaker Nancy "Bourbon Babe" Pelosi issued an order placing him under "Congressional Detention", a rare power of the Speakership that has only been used once, back in 1905, when Templeton Peck placed Harding's AG Johnston Feathers in the same position for refusing to empty his own chamber pot in the West Wing.
The owner and main writer of the site is self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has made it his full time job to troll gullible conservatives and Trump supporters into liking and sharing his articles. He runs several other websites, including wearethellod.com, bustatroll.org or bebest.website. Sometimes he is also known under his nickname "Busta Troll". A second man working on the sites is John Prager as revealed in this earlier story we wrote.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who often omit the satire disclaimer and any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past but new ones keep cropping up.
Blair and his operation were profiled by the Washington Post on November 17, 2018 by Eli Saslow:
'Nothing on this page is real': How lies become truth in online America
November 17 The only light in the house came from the glow of three computer monitors, and Christopher Blair, 46, sat down at a keyboard and started to type. His wife had left for work and his children were on their way to school, but waiting online was his other community, an unreality where nothing was exactly as it seemed.
If you are interested in learning more about Blair and the history of his sites, here is something to get you started:
The Ultimate Christopher Blair and America's Last Line of Defense Reading List | Lead Stories
STORY UPDATED: check for updates below. Yesterday Eli Saslow at the Washington Post wrote a fantastic article about Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has been trolling conservatives and Trump supporters online for years and occasionally even made a living out of it.
If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news.
We wrote about bebest.website before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: NBC Did NOT Finally Pull The Plug - Saturday Night Live NOT Canceled
- Fake News: Supreme Court Did NOT Rule National Emergency Order 'Within the Powers of the POTUS'
- Fake News: RNC Office That Held Clinton Evidence NOT Burned To The Ground
- Fake News: Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft Did NOT Buy and Donate 204 Miles of Border Wall Property
- Fake News: Trump 'MAGA' Hats NOT To Be Banned At Superbowl By Stadium Security
