Was there a coup at the Pentagon? Were the Joint Chiefs of Staff overthrown? No, that's not true: A Pentagon spokesperson denied the claim, which was based on a single purported "confidential" source. The story was published by a website known for printing unsubstantiated and false allegations, many of which Lead Stories has debunked before.
The claims appeared in an article (archived here) published by Real Raw News on May 5, 2021. The article, titled "Pentagon Coup! Joint Chiefs Overthrown," opened:
Last month Real Raw News reported on a shocking incident at the Pentagon, the seat of America's military might: The man who calls himself president, Joseph R. Biden, had visited the Pentagon under the pretense of conducting a surprise presidential inspection. His real impetus was to learn whether a rumor he had heard was true, that Donald J. Trump was in the building meeting secretly with Marine Corps General David H. Berger, which could explain why Pentagon police denied him access to the property. While RRN cannot confirm Trump's presence, we can now authenticate earlier reports that pointed to a dramatic shift in power at the nation's most fortified structure.
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Pentagon Coup! Joint Chiefs Overthrown - Real Raw News
Last month Real Raw News reported on a shocking incident at the Pentagon, the seat of America's military might: The man who calls himself president, Joseph R. Biden, had visited the Pentagon under the pretense of conducting a surprise presidential inspection. His real impetus was to learn whether a rumor he had heard was true, [...]
The opening was referring to a previous Real Raw News article debunked by Lead Stories. See here for our story, in which we found that President Joe Biden was not denied entry to the Pentagon. There was no evidence he even visited the Pentagon on the date in question, while there was ample evidence that Biden has visited the Pentagon as president, with no reported issues.
The article about the alleged coup continued:
On April 14, two days before the Pentagon Protection Force turned away a shocked and confused Biden, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley summoned the 7 other Joint Chiefs to the Pentagon for an emergency meeting, according to a confidential source involved in Trump's mission to eliminate Deep State operatives throughout the nation.
And later, it claimed:
A dozen armed members of the Pentagon Protection Force entered the conference room and handcuffed Generals Milley and Hokanson.
In closing, our source said Milley and [Gen. Daniel] Hokanson have since been shipped to Guantanamo Bay, where they will ultimately answer to a military tribunal.
A Pentagon spokesperson denied the article outright. In an email to Lead Stories, dated May 6, 2021, the spokesperson wrote:
Completely False.
Besides the official denial, the fact that the article relied on the word of a single unnamed "confidential" source raises significant doubt, as does the fact that the story was published by a website with a long history of making false claims.
For example, Real Raw News reported that Hillary Clinton was hanged at Guantanamo Bay on April 26, 2021 (she wasn't); that the military arrested former FBI Director James Comey (it didn't); and it reported that an assassination attempt against Donald Trump was foiled in January 2021 (the Secret Service denied the story).
See here for all of our previous debunks of Real Raw News.
