Did the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps place talk show host Stephen Colbert under arrest for committing treason and defrauding the country as of November 25, 2023? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is false. The website where this claim was made publishes fabricated content.
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on November 28, 2023, titled "JAG Arrests Stephen Colbert" (archived here), which opened:
JAG's new detainment center on Guam will soon have its first detainee: Trump-hating, vaccine-loving, liberal talk show host Stephen Colbert, host of CBS's Late Night with Stephen Colbert.
As reported last week, White Hats had finished building a crude but hopefully efficient 200-cell prison for mainstream media personalities that, in one way or another, committed treason and defrauded the United States of America. A JAG source named future potential inmates and dropped an ambiguous hint: 'Don't be surprised if Christmas comes early this year.'
If all information is accurate, JAG got its first Christmas gift Saturday morning when Navy investigators grabbed Colbert after he stepped off the property of his Montclair, New Jersey, home wearing a blue jogging suit and $60,000 Bulgari Flora sunglasses.
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JAG Arrests Stephen Colbert
JAG's new detainment center on Guam will soon have its first detainee: Trump-hating, vaccine-loving, liberal talk show host Stephen Colbert, host of CBS's Late Night with Stephen Colbert. As reported last week, White Hats had finished building a crude but hopefully efficient 200-cell prison for mainstream media personalities that, in one way or another, committed treason and defrauded the United States of America. A JAG source named future potential inmates and dropped an ambiguous hint: "Don't be surprised if Christmas comes early this year."
In an email to Lead Stories on November 30, 2023, about the claim, a Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that:
This is false.
As reported in this November 27, 2023, Washington Post article, Colbert announced in a November 27, 2023, social media post (archived here) the cancellation of his shows for the week, as he was recovering from ruptured appendix surgery.
Under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, the military does not have the authority to arrest civilians. This act can be voided under certain circumstances explicitly authorized by the U.S. Constitution or Act of Congress. Congress.gov does not show legislation making such an authorization.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks that mention Colbert can be read here. Additional Lead Stories fact checks that mention the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps can be read here.
Real Raw News
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 "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 declares the site does not stand by the contents of the stories, calling them entertainment. Specifically, it says:
Information on this website is for informational and educational and entertainment purposes. ... 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 are collected here.
