Did the Justice Department launch a grand jury investigation into California Governor Gavin Newsom, accused by critics of violating the Logan Act by going to a climate conference in Brazil? No, that's not true: The story's source was a fictional character, "US Attorney for North-Central California Joe Barron". The claim originated from a page warning its readers that nothing it publishes is real.
The claim initially appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook, where it was published on November 12, 2025. It opened:
The Justice Department has called a grand jury to evidence of Logan Act violations against Gavin Newsom:
'He had no right to go to the Cl;imate Hoax conference in Brazil as a representative of the United States,' said US Attorney for North-Central California Joe Barron, 'He was specifically warned not to go.'
The post shared an image of Newsom. This is what it looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at facebook.com/ALLODRetro.)
The Logan Act (archived here), mentioned in the post, is an American federal law that bans private citizens from influencing the conduct of foreign governments in a way that contradicts official U.S. policy.
A Google search across government websites did not confirm the existence of the U.S. attorney cited on social media:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page on google.com)
Joe Barron is a recurring fake character in the parodic narratives published by America's Last Line Of Defense social media and websites, which exist to troll conservative social media users.
Searches on Google News and Yahoo News showed no credible sources writing about the purported investigation:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page on Google News)
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of search results page on Yahoo News)
The picture of Newsom from the post reviewed in this fact check included a disclaimer informing people that America's Last Line of Defense doesn't publish real news stories:
(Source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at facebook.com/ALLODRetro)
The self-description of the page that published the claim additionally emphasized:
A subsidiary of the America's Last Line of Defense network of trollery and propaganda for cash. Nothing on this page is real.
The page also said that the entity responsible for it was "Busta Troll", self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine. His "America's Last Line of Defense" network, run in affiliation with a group of friends and allies, consists of several internet sites and 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.
"Joe Barron" is a repeated fictional source in those stories. As Lead Stories previously reported, it's Blair's way to pay homage to a deceased friend of that name. In ALLOD articles, "Joe Barron" has been a "head of the FBI's Department of Detectivity", "city spokesperson", "judge" and a "CEO of a supermarket".
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.
