Video misuses old TV blooper to back false claim Hillary Clinton died | Fact check

Gabrielle Settles, USA TODAY
·2 min read
145

The claim: Hillary Clinton is dead

A Sept. 28 Facebook video (direct link, archived link) opens with two television anchors preparing to deliver the news.

“We begin with the breaking news about Hillary Clinton’s death,” one anchor says.

The video cuts to photos of Clinton, an interview of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee calling her a “very carefully programmed robot,” and audio of an interview in which Clinton tells the laughing hosts that she's part of a possible "robot race."

On-screen captions read: “That time they ‘accidentally’ reported that Hillary died,” and “The REAL Hillary is no longer with us.”

The Facebook video was shared more than 3,000 times within one week.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

Clinton is not dead. The news anchor made an error during a live broadcast. Clinton was clearly joking about being a robot, and Huckabee was speaking hyperbolically about her mannerisms.

Anchor misspoke about Clinton’s bout of pneumonia

On Sept. 11, 2016, then-presidential candidate Clinton abruptly left a memorial ceremony for the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks because she was ill.

As the Facebook clip showed, WABC-TV News anchor Joe Torres started the day's newscast with "breaking news about Hillary Clinton's death."

He doesn't correct himself, but it becomes clear he misspoke when he continues. "Hillary Clinton's doctor has just revealed the presidential candidate has been diagnosed with pneumonia."

Clinton was not dead. After leaving the event, she went to her daughter's apartment, where she waved to onlookers and posed for pictures.

And of course, this clip is seven years old.

No credible news sources have announced her death recently. CNN posted an interview with Clinton on Oct. 5.

Fact check: False claim Pope Francis, Bill Clinton pushed depopulation as climate solution

The robot references about Clinton in the video don’t prove that she is one. Huckabee’s full interview with Fox News shows that he was criticizing her mannerisms in front of reporters.

The sound bite in the Facebook video comes from an October 2015 interview with BuzzFeed’s Another Round podcast. Clinton was asked to describe her weirdest trait. She answered that she doesn’t sweat, leaning into the joke that she is a programmed robot.

"I was constructed in a garage," she said.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Old clips misused to falsely claim Hillary Clinton died | Fact check

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next