Did the U.S. military arrest U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to charge him with "treason and child endangerment"? No, that's not true: The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 states that the U.S. military does not serve any roles in civilian law enforcement. This arrest claim was also made on a website that publishes fabricated content.
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on November 25, 2022, titled "Military Arrests Another Cabinet Member | Real Raw News" (archived here). It opened:
United States Marines Thanksgiving Day arrested Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on charges of treason and child endangerment, JAG sources told Real Raw News.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Military Arrests Another Cabinet Member | Real Raw News
As stated by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, the U.S. military is not sanctioned to participate in any civilian law enforcement activity.
A Google news search using the keywords "United States Marines Arrested Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona" produced no results to substantiate this claim.
As of November 28, 2022, Cardona was active on his officially verified Twitter account. He published a tweet about the recent student loan repayment pause extension:
This follows the publication of a November 11, 2022, U.S. Department of Education press release titled,"Statement from Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on District Court Ruling on the Biden-Harris Administration Student Debt Relief Program." In it, Cardona stated that he was "disappointed in the decision of the Texas court to block loan relief moving forward."
Lead Stories reached out to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Department of Education. This story will be updated if any responses are received.
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.
