Did the U.S. military destroy child trafficking tunnels in South Carolina? No, that's not true: There has been no mention of this event from major news outlets like The Associated Press (AP) and The New York Times. A shaking of the ground that was alleged to be the explosion of these tunnels was an earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey website.
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on July 2, 2022, titled "U.S. Military Destroys Child Trafficing Tunnels in South Carolina" (archived here). It opened:
The White Hat partition of the U.S. military has found and destroyed Deep State-controlled deep underground military bunkers, or DUMBs, in South Carolina, a source in Gen. David H. Berger's office told Real Raw News.
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U.S. Military Destroys Child Trafficing Tunnels in South Carolina | Real Raw News
The article mentions the earthquake that took place in South Carolina on June 26, 2022, saying it was actually "a White Hat operation to collapse a labyrinth of subterranean tunnels." During a July 7, 2022, phone call, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) referred Lead Stories to the USGS website. On earthquake.usgs.gov, the USGS recorded a 3.4 magnitude earthquake at 5:31:54 UTC (1:31 a.m. EDT) on June 26, 2022, east of Elgin, South Carolina.
At the time of writing, news sources such as AP and The New York Times did not carry reports about the U.S. military destroying child trafficking tunnels in South Carolina.
Because Gen. David H. Berger is a general in the U.S. Marine Corps, Lead Stories contacted the U.S. Marine Corps. We will update this article when we receive a response.
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 that "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 warns readers not to take its content too seriously. Specifically, it says:
Information on this website is for informational and educational and entertainment purposes. This website contains humor, parody, and satire. 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 is collected here.
