Did American Red Cross Chief Executive Officer Gail McGovern send a letter to the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps about a fiction website's fantasy stories about political tribunals and executions at Guantanamo Bay? No, that's not true: The American Red Cross told Lead Stories that this claim is false. Also, this claim appeared in an article on Real Raw News, the a website that regularly publishes violent fantasies of retribution against government and political leaders.
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on February 16, 2024, titled "Red Cross Tells JAG to Cease Tribunals and Executions" (archived here), which began:
The U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps office in Pensacola, Florida, last week received from American Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern a typewritten letter asking "military personnel with a stake in Donald Trump's political ambitions" to immediately cease extrajudicial tribunals and halt human rights abuses against persons detained unlawfully at Guantanamo Bay.
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(Source: RealRawNews.com screenshot taken on Thu Feb 22 17:15:43 2024 UTC)
This article claims that American Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern sent a "typewritten letter" asking U.S. Navy JAG personnel to "immediately cease extrajudicial tribunals and halt human rights abuses against persons detained unlawfully at Guantanamo Bay."
In response to an inquiry from Lead Stories, an American Red Cross representative wrote via email on February 22, 2024:
No individual from the American Red Cross has sent a letter to U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps office in Pensacola, Florida and therefore all claims about and/or in the letter are false. Erroneous claims and incendiary misinformation can have very real consequences on the ability to provide humanitarian aid. We encourage the public to verify what they see, read and hear before sharing.
A Google News search (archived here) using the keywords "U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps office in Pensacola, Florida," AND "American Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern," AND "typewritten letter" AND "immediately cease extrajudicial tribunals" AND "Guantanamo Bay" did not produce any results to substantiate this claim.
Lead Stories reached out to the U.S. Navy regarding this claim and will update this fact check if a response is received.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks mentioning American Red Cross can be found 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.
