FACT CHECK: No, Delta Force Has Not Arrested Chelsea Clinton And Her Husband
An image shared on Facebook claims Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and husband Marc Mezvinsky have been arrested by the military.
Verdict: False
Chelsea Clinton and Mezvinsky have not been arrested by Delta Force. The claim stems from a website that states it contains “humor, parody, and satire.”
Fact Check:
The Facebook post features a screen grab of a Telegram post that includes a link to an article on the website Best News Here. The article, titled “Delta Force Arrests Chelsea Clinton,” alleges that Delta Force personnel apprehended Chelsea Clinton and Mezvinsky on the morning of Sept. 18 as they were traveling by car with three children who “were estimated to be between 8 and 12 years old, and spoke Haitian Creole.”
A supposed anonymous source said that “JAG and the Office of Military Commissions have obtained evidence that Chelsea was following in her late mother’s footsteps—abducting Haitian children and selling them off to the highest bidders of a child trafficking ring that has existed for decades,” the article goes on to claim.
Check Your Fact previously debunked false claims that Hillary Clinton was arrested by Navy SEALs on various charges and that she was executed at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Like those baseless allegations, the claim about Chelsea Clinton getting arrested by Delta Force members doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
There are no press releases from the Justice or Defense Department mentioning Chelsea Clinton and her husband being arrested, nor do any accuse the couple or Hillary Clinton of being involved in child trafficking. The arrest of a former First Daughter would almost certainly garner widespread coverage from the media, yet national news outlets haven’t reported such an incident.
Further adding to the claim’s dubiousness, Chelsea Clinton has been active on social media since Sept. 18, the date of her purported arrest. On Monday, she tweeted that she was “looking forward” to participating in a Sept. 30 webinar panel discussion about “what works to keep school environments healthy and safe, during #covid19 and beyond,” for instance.
Her husband, Mezvinsky, has worked for the private equity firm TPG Capital since 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company still lists him on its website as a member of the firm as of press time. (RELATED: Did Haitian President Jovenel Moïse Say He Would Expose The Clinton Foundation The Day Before His Assassination?)
The text in the Best News Here story appears to originally come from a Sept. 19 article published by Real Raw News, a website that features a disclaimer that it “contains humor, parody, and satire.” Despite Real Raw News having that warning, some social media users have erroneously shared its claim about Chelsea Clinton online as if it was factual.
The inaccurate rumors of Hillary Clinton’s arrest and execution also stemmed from Real Raw News stories.