Did Liz Cheney tweet questioning why people won't get more than $750 for hurricane damage, saying it's because Donald Trump won't let House Speaker Mike Johnson pass a hurricane relief bill? No, that's not true: The X account that originally posted the fake screenshot carries a disclaimer, "This account itself is not a parody but most of the images we share are parodies." The account named in the fake screenshot, @Liz_Choney, does not exist.
The screenshot of the post (archived here) on X, which was published on October 23, 2024, was reposted on Threads on October 24, 2024. The post was captioned only with emojis:
💯👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
There are two posts captured in the screenshot, the X post from @FaithBackRub, and the fabricated screenshot designed to look like a post from Liz Cheney, the former U.S. representative from Wyoming. The @FaithBackRub post was captioned:
Trump is fucking over North Carolina.
Vote accordingly.
This is how it appeared on Threads at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Mon Oct 28 14:25:42 2024 UTC)
The fabricated tweet has the same profile picture and blue check as the verified X account of Liz Cheney @Liz_Cheney, but the account handle differs in that it includes the letter O, @Liz_Choney. This account did not exist at the time of writing. There is also a typo on the datestamp and the word parody appears in the tagline (pictured above):
12:57 PM Oct 233, 2024 2.8M Parody Rub
The fake message says:
Why are people who lost their houses only getting $750 in hurricane relief? Because Trump won't let Mike Johnson pass a hurricane relief bill. There's no punchline, the truth about Trump is a joke.
The focus of this fact check is to clarify that this is not a real tweet from Cheney. Not only is the tweet not real, the message suggesting that the $750 payment is the only hurricane relief that will be available is untrue. Lead Stories has published fact checks here and here that explain the purpose of the $750 payment and the existence of additional programs of the Federal Emergency Management Agency that hurricane-impacted people may qualify to receive.
An advanced search on X for tweets from the verified @Liz_Cheney account in the time period after Hurricane Helene for "$750 in hurricane relief" (archived here) and "Because Trump won't let Mike Johnson pass a hurricane relief bill" (archived here) produced no results. No account exists for the @liz_choney account handle featured in the fake screenshot (pictured below).
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Oct 28 17:00:00 2024 UTC)
The account where this fabrication originated, @FaithRubPol, has this disclaimer posted in their bio (pictured below):
Opposed Trump since 2015. Aimed this Christian Apologetics page at fascism. This account itself is not a parody but most of the images we share are parodies.
In the days since posting the fake Cheney tweet on October 23, 2024, @FaithRubPol has posted other fabricated tweets using the same general formula and falsely attributing them to other notable people, such as Robert De Niro (archived here), Dan Rather (archived here), Oprah Winfrey (archived here) and Sen. John Fetterman (archived here).
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Oct 28 17:07:00 2024 UTC)
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims about hurricane relief can be found here.
