No proof Musk donated $10 million to Jan. 6 families, claim is stolen satire
No proof Musk donated $10 million to Jan. 6 families, claim is stolen satire | Fact check
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Jan. 6 defendants, supporters welcome news of pardons
At a Washington, D.C. detention facility Jan. 6 defendants and supporters welcomed the news of pardons from President Trump while experts worry about criminal histories.
The claim: Elon Musk donated $10 million to support families of Jan. 6 defendants
A Jan. 26 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims Elon Musk financially supported the families of Jan. 6 defendants.
'Elon Musk has donated $10 million to help J6 families 'jump-start their lives,'' reads the post.
It was shared more than 200 times in 10 days. Other versions of the claim spread widely on Facebook.
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Our rating: False
There is no evidence Musk made any such donation. The claim originated on a satirical social media account.
Musk has criticized prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants
President Donald Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on the first day of his second term.
Among them was 40-year-old Jenny McCombs, who launched a fundraiser to build a 'J6 Road Home' sanctuary offering free housing to Jan. 6 defendants, The Daily Beast reported. McCombs noted the loss of income defendants may have experienced because of their criminal records and said 'everyone deserves a second chance,' according to the outlet.
But there's no evidence Musk similarly invested in helping Jan. 6 defendants and their families get a new start after Trump's pardons.
USA TODAY found no record of any such donation mentioned on Musk's X account, and there are no reports from legitimate news sources supporting the claim.
Fact check: No, this Musk post about favoring foreign workers over Americans isn't real
The claim was first posted on a Facebook page called 'America Loves Liberty,' which presents itself as a satirical account.
Its page information describes it as 'Not nearly the real news for today's conservative' and lists its page administrator as 'Busta Troll.' It also reposts content from the America's Last Line of Defense satirical network, though it said in a Jan. 28 post that it was "no longer operating under the (America's Last Line of Defense) banner."
It's an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where content written as satire and presented that way originally is reposted in a way that makes it appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
Musk has, however, been critical of the treatment of Jan. 6 defendants. He said their prosecutions 'have gone too far' in a March 2024 X post and later said the events of Jan. 6, 2021, have been mischaracterized as 'some sort of violent insurrection, which is simply not the case,' as reported by the Associated Press. Several people died in the attack and more than 150 police officers were injured.
USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims about Musk, including false assertions that he posted saying MAGA would succeed where 'Nazi Germany failed,' that he is not a U.S. citizen and that he is 'blocking Pride on X.'
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Check Your Fact and Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
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