FACT CHECK: No, The Military Has Not Executed Adam Schiff

Trevor Schakohl | Legal Reporter

Posts shared on Facebook claim Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff was executed earlier this month.

Verdict: False

Schiff has not been convicted of treason or espionage, nor has he been executed by the U.S. military. The claim stems from a website that says it publishes “humor, parody, and satire.”

Fact Check:

Multiple Facebook users have alleged Schiff, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was put to death this month. One such post specifically alleges that he was executed via firing squad by the U.S. military on Aug. 13 after having previously been found guilty of “treason and espionage” by the Office of Military Commissions.

In reality, Schiff is alive and doesn’t face treason or espionage charges. Check Your Fact debunked the claim he had been convicted of treason in early July, and there is no indication in Department of Justice or Department of Defense press releases that he has been found guilty of that or espionage since then. (RELATED: Viral Image Claims Trump Called The Rolling Stones Un-American For Denying Him Use Of Their Music)

The California congressman has made public appearances since the date of his supposed execution. For instance, Schiff gave an interview on an Aug. 24 episode of the MSNBC show “The Beat with Ari Melber,” as seen in a video posted on the congressman’s YouTube channel. He also appeared on CNN’s “Don Lemon Tonight” on Aug. 23.

His social media accounts have been active since Aug. 13 as well. On Sunday, he tweeted about the dignified transfer of U.S. service members killed in the Aug. 26 terrorist attack at Kabul’s airport in Afghanistan. His verified Facebook page posted numerous times, including an Aug. 18  announcement that he had finished writing his upcoming book “Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could.”

The inaccurate claim about Schiff being executed stems from an Aug. 15 article published by the website Real Raw News. On the “About Us” section of the website, it states, “This website contains humor, parody, and satire.” Nevertheless, some social media users have shared claims originating from Real Raw News as if they were factual, erroneously portraying them as real events.

Trevor Schakohl

Legal Reporter
Follow Trevor on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/tschakohl

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