Get PolitiFact in your inbox.
No, the Clintons and Bushes didn’t help assassinate JFK Jr.
If Your Time is short
- John F. Kennedy Jr. died in a plane crash in 1999. He wasn’t assassinated by the Clinton and Bush families.
With the advent of the QAnon movement, John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of former President John F. Kennedy, has emerged as an unlikely 2024 vice presidential candidate. Some QAnon believers think the younger Kennedy, who died in a plane crash in 1999, is still alive. But other theories online suggest he was murdered.
"According to a long-time Special Forces and CIA Division 4 operative’s explosive evidence, witness testimony and his team’s suppressed and classified final report named former presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Senator Hillary Clinton among others as being involved in orchestrating the assassination of JFK Jr.," a June 19 Instagram post says.
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
While former President Kennedy was assassinated, there’s no evidence to support the claim that his son also was targeted and killed.
Featured Fact-check
We’ve previously fact-checked many claims about JFK Jr., including that he was killed to make way for Hillary Clinton to become a New York state senator instead of him. That’s wrong, and so is the suggestion in this Instagram post that she and others helped to assassinate him.
On July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., then the founder and publisher of George magazine, was piloting a single-engine Piper Saratoga when it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. His wife and his sister-in-law were also in the aircraft and killed alongside Kennedy.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the crash probably happened after Kennedy, who was inexperienced at flying his plane alone at night, became disoriented in haze.
We rate this post Pants on Fire.
Our Sources
Instagram post, June 19, 2022
PolitiFact, Another Clinton body count hoax — this one starring JFK Jr. — is wrong, Nov. 8, 2019
The New York Times, Bodies from Kennedy crash are found, July 22, 1999
The New York Times, Safety board blames pilot error in crash in Kennedy plane, July 7, 2000
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Ciara O'Rourke
No, the Clintons and Bushes didn’t help assassinate JFK Jr.
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.