"Breaking: Sasha Obama just crashed her expensive new car into a lake."
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President Barack Obama standing with his daughters, Sasha, left, and Malia, right, as Obama pardons a turkey at the White House on Nov. 25, 2015. (AP)
Fake news: Sasha Obama crashed Bugatti into a lake
A fake news article said that Sasha Obama, speeding at 90 miles per hour, crashed her $1 million car -- a used Bugatti Veyron -- into a lake.
"Breaking: Sasha Obama just crashed her expensive new car into a lake," stated a headline on Defense USA Dec. 21.
Facebook users flagged the post as being potentially fabricated, as part of the social network’s efforts to combat fake news.
We found no credible news reports of the former president’s daughter crashing her car.
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The article stated that former President Barack Obama bought Sasha the luxury car for Christmas. The fake news account cites an alleged story in the Washington Times Herald that said Sasha Obama called police after she drove into Lake Hope about 32 miles outside of Washington. (We found no such Lake Hope in the D.C. area; there is one in Ohio.)
"Officers noted a ‘strong smell of marijuana’ in the crashed vehicle, but no drugs were found as the wreckage was searched," the phony article stated.
The fake news article linked to the website of the Washington Times Herald, an actual newspaper in Washington, Ind. But that website, which focuses on local news in Indiana, had no such story about Sasha crashing her car. (There was also a newspaper called The Washington Times-Herald that covered the capital city, but that was sold to the Washington Post in 1954.)
The headline that Sasha Obama crashed her car into a lake is fake news. We rate this headline Pants on Fire.
Our Sources
Defense USA, "Breaking: Sasha Obama just crashed her expensive new car into a lake," Dec. 21, 2017
Washington Times Herald, Accessed Dec. 27, 2017
Washington Post, "Rudolph Yeatman, Lawyer, Counsel for Times-Herald," March 15, 1980
Ohio State Parks, Lake Hope State Park, Accessed Dec. 27, 2017
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Fake news: Sasha Obama crashed Bugatti into a lake
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