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.

I would like to contribute

stated on June 14, 2017 in a website article:

Says Loretta Lynch was part of "a stunning collection of calls to violence and murder from the intolerant, unhinged leftists in the Democrat party."

By Jon Greenberg June 16, 2017

Loretta Lynch did not call for 'violence and murder,' 'blood and death in streets'

The shootings of congressional Republican baseball players by a drifter fan of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., triggered outrage among conservative media. Infowars, the conspiracy website of Alex Jones, accused top Democrats of instigating this sort of violence.

The June 14 headline basically said it all: "FLASHBACK: Tim Kaine, Loretta Lynch Called For Blood and Death In Streets."

The article said Kaine, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate, and Lynch, Barack Obama's former attorney general, were part of "a stunning collection of calls to violence and murder from the intolerant, unhinged leftists in the Democrat party, mainstream media, Hollywood, and the spider web of interwoven organizations and cabals like Antifa and Black Lives Matter who have effectively transformed into domestic terrorists in Trump’s America."

Regarding Lynch, Infowars said she used "incendiary language in a bizarre one-minute video in which she seemed to call upon fellow ‘progressives’ to march, bleed, and die in the streets ... in resistance to the Trump agenda."

This fact-check focuses on the Lynch allegations and whether the video shows what Infowars said it does.

The video

On Feb. 28, 2017, the Senate Democrats posted a video on its Facebook page with the introduction, "If you need to hear some words of inspiration tonight, take a moment for our friend, former Attorney General, Loretta E. Lynch." It’s not clear when or where Lynch was speaking, but she seems to speaking in the context of President Donald Trump’s recent inauguration. While she never mentioned Trump, the video went up a few hours before Trump would address a joint session of Congress.

About a week before the video, the Homeland Security Department implemented tough new policies on deportations. The Trump administration undid civil rights protections for transgender students. Both ran counter to Obama era policies.

X posts

stated on October 27, 2024 in Social media posts

Photo shows people lined up outside Madison Square Garden before an Oct. 27 rally by former President Donald Trump.

Here’s the full text from Lynch:

"I know that this is a time of great fear and uncertainty for so many people. I know it’s a time of concern for people who see our rights being assailed, being trampled on, and even being rolled back. I know that this is difficult, but I remind you that this has never been easy. We have always had to work to move this country forward to achieve the great ideals of our founding fathers. And it has been people, individuals who have banded together, ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals, who have made the difference. They’ve marched, they’ve bled — yes, some of them have died. This is hard. Every good thing is. We have done this before; we can do this again."

On the face of it, Lynch didn’t say what Infowars asserted. She didn’t call for anyone to commit violence. The violence she described was inflicted on those who marched to defend the rights of individuals. She said they bled and they died. She didn’t say they caused others to bleed or others to die.

The Infowars web post recycled virtually identical claims that ran in early March from many conservative corners, including Fox News, Bill O’Reilly (then a Fox News host), and WND.

A fact-check from the conservative Daily Caller website also declared the Infowars article false.

Our ruling

Infowars said Lynch advocated "violence and murder." She did not. She said that people who have marched for political change have bled and been killed. That would be the opposite of what Infowars said.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire.

Share the Facts