Fact check: Video shows Rep. Jim Jordan questioning witness, no criminal charges levied

Kate S. Petersen, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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The claim: Video shows witness being immediately charged with a crime after lying to Rep. Jim Jordan

The caption of a Dec. 26, 2022, Facebook video claims it shows a congressional witness being charged with a crime immediately after lying to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

"Garland's witness tries to LIE to Jim Jordan over Hunter's deal...faces CHARGE INSTANTLY," reads the post's caption.

Text atop the video claims it was captured a day earlier, on Dec. 25. The video was viewed 17,000 times in a week.

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Our rating: False

The video shows Jordan and Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., questioning Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen. Jordan mentions the president's son, Hunter Biden, only in passing, and no one is shown being charged with a crime. Despite the video's Dec. 25 label, the footage was captured months earlier.

Video shows national security hearing

The video shows a July 28, 2022, congressional hearing about national security threats. In the video, Jordan and Cicilline question Olsen about the Department of Justice's actions with regard to domestic terrorism investigations. At no point in the video does Olsen, or anyone else, appear to be charged with a crime.

Jordan mentions Biden in passing when he asks Olsen if he knows a man named Timothy Thibault. Olsen claims Thibault had information about Hunter Biden. Biden is not mentioned again in the video.

Thibault is a retired FBI agent that some Republican lawmakers have claimed interfered in the FBI investigation of the president's son.

This style of misinformation, in which a misleading caption is paired with a legitimate video, is called "false framing," Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, previously told USA TODAY.

While the caption is obviously wrong if someone watches the entire video, “the majority of people scroll past these with the sound off," Caulfield said. “The fact it autoplays silently makes it engaging, without undermining the (inaccurate) framing.”

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment.

Fact check: Video shows GOP senator questioning FBI director, not releasing Hunter Biden documents

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Video shows Jordan questioning witness, no charges levied