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Signal, Usha Vance's Greenland visit & Kenneth Copeland

Plus: Trump officials may have texted classified info to group chat with journalist. Here's the complete breakdown

SATURDAY EDITION

Snopes Debunker

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Yes, Biden admin authorized use of Signal — but not for sensitive military intel

After The Atlantic's Monday report that U.S. national intelligence officials included the magazine's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in a group chat about military strikes in Yemen, CIA Director John Ratcliffe claimed that former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration also used Signal for government communications.

While it is true that the Biden administration may have allowed use of Signal in some cases, it also explicitly prohibited using Signal for "non-public" Department of Defense information. Furthermore, a DOD investigator wrote in a report during Biden's term that the use of Signal "does not comply" with record-keeping laws and DOD policy. As Ratcliffe and others were defending the use of Signal by Trump administration national security officials for what appeared to be sensitive information, their claims were misleading. Reporter Grace Deng reports.

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Usha Vance's Greenland visit plans were changed, not canceled. Officials have given different reasons why

According to the vice president's office, the second lady's travel plans changed after Vice President JD Vance decided to join the Greenland trip.

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Support Snopes with our monthly membership

Snopes has been busy fact-checking political claims, including rumors involving Signal, which we feature at the top and bottom of this newsletter. We need your help to keep doing this far-ranging work. By building our membership, we will be able to continue cutting straight to the facts on any subject our readers are interested in. We appreciate any support you can give.

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Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University grad student, was detained by masked ICE agents

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security accused Ozturk, a Turkish national, of "activities in support of Hamas."

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Televangelist Kenneth Copeland is the target of false AI-generated videos

YouTube videos are promoting fictional stories about the 88-year-old supposedly collapsing in court or being sentenced to prison for life.

A white blonde woman wears a "MAKE AMERICA BLONDE AGAIN" T-shirt in a selfie.

Karoline Leavitt took selfie in 'Make America Blonde Again' T-shirt?

The White House confirmed the photograph's authenticity.

Staff Pick

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Trump officials may have texted classified info to group chat with journalist. Here's the complete breakdown

Here's what we know about whether officials shared classified intel in leaked group chat that included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.