Does House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries not want to discuss a $1.2 million luxury apartment the Mexican government gifted him in 2022? No, that's not true: The rumor was launched by a Facebook page that profits from political satire. The fake claim came amid backlash against President Donald Trump's decision to accept the gift of a 747 from the government of Qatar.
The story appeared in a May 16, 2025 post (archived here) published on the @_NewsBarron account under the title "Hakim Jeffries doesn't want to discuss the $1.2 million luxury apartment the Mexican government GIFTED to him in 2022. ". It opened:
The 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 3,100 square foot penthouse in Cabo was given to him "in gratitude for all he's done for the people of Mexico. He's not giving it back or handing it over to the government when he leaves office. He's just keeping it.
This is what the post looked like at the time this fact check was written:
(Source: X.com screenshot by Lead Stories.)
The photo with the post bears a label with an "S" (satire) mark and the logo of America's Last Line Of Defense, a satire website.
The "America's Last Line of Defense" network of satire websites is run by self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine along with a loose confederation of friends and allies. He runs several websites and Facebook pages with visible satire disclaimers everywhere. They mostly publish made-up stories with headlines specifically created to trigger Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians into angrily sharing or commenting on the story on Facebook without actually reading the full article, exposing them to mockery and ridicule by fans of the sites and pages.
Every site in the network has an about page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with "comedy":sat·ire
ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who omit the satire disclaimer and other hints the stories are fake. One of the most persistent networks of such sites is run by a man from Pakistan named Kashif Shahzad Khokhar (aka "DashiKashi") who has spammed hundreds of such stolen stories into conservative and right-wing Facebook pages in order to profit from the ad revenue.
When fact checkers point this out to the people liking and sharing these copycat stories some of them get mad at the fact checkers instead of directing their anger at the foreign spammers or the liberal satire writers. Others send a polite "thank you" note, which is much appreciated.
Readers can find other Lead Stories fact checks of America's Last Line of Defense satires here.
