Politics

FACT CHECK: Did Barack Obama Tweet, ‘Ask Ukraine If They Found My Birth Certificate’?

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An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows a tweet from former President Barack Obama that says, “While we’re at it ask Ukraine if they found my birth certificate.”

Verdict: False

The page posted a doctored image to Facebook. There is no record of Obama ever tweeting this.

Fact Check:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Sept. 24 that the House would move forward with a formal impeachment inquiry after a whistleblower complaint alleged that President Donald Trump pressured the Ukrainian president into investigating Trump’s political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. The Facebook post alludes to this inquiry, as well as the conspiracy theory that Obama was ineligible to be president because he wasn’t born in the U.S.

“While we’re at it,” reads the allegedly screen-grabbed tweet, “ask Ukraine if they found my birth certificate.”

At first glance, it could appear authentic to some. The tweet bears the Twitter handle of Obama’s personal account, his current profile picture and blue verification check mark.

However, there is no record of Obama ever tweeting this statement from his verified Twitter account. An internet search failed to turn up any evidence corroborating the tweet as well.

The 44th president is not the only politician who has fallen victim to inauthentic tweets. In recent months, Check Your Fact has debunked fake tweets believed by many to be from Trump, Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and several others.