Did U.S. Special Forces arrest former Hillary Clinton campaign aides John Podesta and Huma Abedin? No, that's not true: There's no credible corroboration for an article that makes the claim, which rests on a purported single unnamed source. A spokesperson for the Department of Defense said the arrests did not happen. The website that published the story is known for making false allegations, many of which Lead Stories has debunked before.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by Real Raw News (RRN) on April 4, 2021. The post, which was titled "U.S. Special Forces Arrest John Podesta and Huma Abedin," opened:
Former Clinton Staffers Huma Abedin and John Podesta will soon have a new home at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, where they, like Clinton, will face a military tribunal to answer for heinous crimes committed against America and its people.
Users on social media saw this title, description and thumbnail:
U.S. Special Forces Arrest John Podesta and Huma Abedin - Real Raw News
Former Clinton Staffers Huma Abedin and John Podesta will soon have a new home at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, where they, like Clinton, will face a military tribunal to answer for heinous crimes committed against America and its people. A confidential source familiar with Trump's plan to drain the swamp and restore American prosperity [...]
The article continued:
A confidential source familiar with Trump's plan to drain the swamp and restore American prosperity to the people told RRN that U.S. Special Forces operating on Trump's authority conducted simultaneous 'nab and grab' missions to apprehend Clinton's co-conspirators. Trump picked Easter Sunday to arrest the traitors because he believed it to be the best day to catch them unaware and at home, our source added.
The fact that the article's claim rests on a single unnamed source raises a red flag, as does that fact that no reliable news source reported on the alleged arrests. Podesta was chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign; Abedin was a longtime top aide. If either person were arrested, it would be big news.
Lead Stories reached out to the Department of Defense to ask about the claim. In an email, dated April 5, 2021, a spokesperson responded, writing:
This did not happen.
The article claimed that U.S. Special Forces were operating on the authority of Donald Trump. As former president, he would have no such authority.
The article quoted its source as saying:
Trump learned Abedin would be at her parents' house for Easter. As you know, Clinton is already at GITMO awaiting trial. She's given up a lot of info, including on Abedin -- she's allegedly revealed that she and Abedin partook in Adrenochrome infusions from Haitian children. When Navy Seals captured Clinton, they found evidence of this on her laptops, and now her own words have incriminated her and her criminal conspirators.
Abedin is widely reported to practice Islam. Easter is a Christian holiday.
Lead Stories has previously debunked the claim that Navy SEALs captured Clinton. Our story can be seen here. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson, assistant chief of information, Media Operations/Plans for the U.S. Navy, told us of that report:
The story is fabricated and not factual.
We have also written about the adrenochrome myth, which is the belief that children are tortured to extract a substance for satanic rituals. Those stories can be seen here. Adrenochrome plays a central role in the QAnon conspiracy theory, which Lead Stories and others have repeatedly disproven. Followers of the movement think the country is run by an evil cabal of Democratic pedophiles, people like Abedin and Podesta, and that Trump will one day bring all wrongdoers to justice.
Real Raw News has a history of publishing false claims. For example, it reported the above claim that Navy SEALs arrested Clinton (they didn't); it said that an assassination attempt against Trump was foiled in January 2021 (the Secret Service denied the story); and it reported that Delta Force operators raided a compound, owned by the family of President Joe Biden, in Ukraine (they didn't.)
See here for all of our previous debunks of Real Raw News.
