Did the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps find recently retired U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland "guilty by default" and sentence her to hang? No, that's not true: This claim appeared on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. Lead Stories previously found the claim that U.S. Marines arrested Nuland and her husband to be false.
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on April 9, 2024, titled "JAG Finds Victoria Nuland Guilty 'By Default' and Sentences Her to Hang," (archived here) which opened:
The U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps on Friday found Victoria Nuland guilty by default because she had obstinately refused to plead guilty or not guilty at an arraignment following her arrest on March 4, a JAG source told Real Raw News.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
JAG Finds Victoria Nuland Guilty 'By Default' and Sentences Her to Hang
The U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps on Friday found Victoria Nuland guilty by default because she had obstinately refused to plead guilty or not guilty at an arraignment following her arrest on March 4, a JAG source told Real Raw News.
Nuland is a frequent target of conspiracy theories and disinformation related to Ukraine and Russia.
Lead Stories previously found the claim that the U.S. Marines arrested Nuland and her husband on March 4, 2024, to be false.
In a Google News search (archived here) of Google News' index of thousands of reliable information sources, using the keywords "'U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps' AND 'Victoria Nuland' AND 'Guilty' AND 'Sentences Her to Hang' AND 'April 5, 2024,'" produced no results to substantiate this claim.
Lead Stories contacted the Pentagon about this claim and will update this fact check when a response is received.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks mentioning JAG and Real Raw News 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.
