Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Bloggers

stated on March 24, 2017 in a headline:

"Ken Starr’s plane just disappeared on his way to D.C. to testify against Hillary (Clinton)."

By Joshua Gillin March 31, 2017

Fake news wrongly says Ken Starr died in plane crash on way to testify against Hillary Clinton

A fake news story claimed that the lawyer who investigated former President Bill Clinton prior to his impeachment died in a plane crash while on his way to give testimony about former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

"Ken Starr’s plane just disappeared on his way to D.C. to testify against Hillary," read the headline on a March 24, 2017, post on ConservativeFlashNews.com. The post was flagged by Facebook users as potentially being fabricated, as part of the social media website’s efforts to curtail fake news.

While this post appears on several other websites, ConservativeFlashNews.com indicates that they "cannot make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information." There is no immediately apparent way to contact the site.

The story, which is fake, said Starr was flying to Washington when his plane crashed in Wilkershire, Md. — a town that, as far as we can tell, does not exist. The post said five people were killed in the crash.

The post also said that Starr was going to testify before "special investigative committee that has recently found itself investigating crimes from the 1990s," led by U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

Sign up for PolitiFact texts

There is no such committee, but Gowdy’s name likely was invoked because he was chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. That committee submitted its final report in July 2016.

Starr’s investigation into the Clintons, starting with former deputy White House counsel Vince Foster’s death and the Whitewater land deal, eventually unearthed details of Bill Clinton allegedly lying in a deposition about an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. The allegations in the Starr Report led to Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment.

More recently, Starr served as president and chancellor of Baylor University, but left amid accusations that he mishandled a sexual assault scandal to protect players on the school’s football team.

Instagram posts

stated on October 14, 2024 in an Instagram post

Fox News reported Donald Trump donated $1,300 for hurricane relief.

As for the story that he died, its origins have roots in a well-known source of fabricated news. ConservativeFlashNews.com copied the story that appeared on the same date on TheLastLineOfDefense.org. The post featured a photograph of a real fatal plane crash during a 2015 air show in England.

The site has been the source of several fake news stories that we’ve previously checked. As is the case here, TheLastLineOfDefense.org’s posts end up being passed around on multiple websites, often without attribution about its origin.

TheLastLineOfDefense.org doesn’t indicate that this or any other story is fake, but its About Us link notes that "all articles should be considered satirical and any and all quotes attributed to actual people complete and total baloney."

There have been no real reports that Starr has died, and the story came from a known purveyor of contrived news stories.

We rate this statement Pants On Fire!

Share the Facts