Grok said Biden rescinded a Medal of Freedom from ‘Trump’s campaign manager.’ That’s Pants on Fire!

President Joe Biden awarded the U.S.’ highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 19 people, including former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; philanthropist George Soros; actors Michael J. Fox and Denzel Washington; and fashion industry figures Ralph Lauren and Anna Wintour. 

A social media user seemed to take grievance with the recipients and called on President-elect Donald Trump to revoke their awards. "President Trump @realDonaldTrump can and must rescind all Presidential Medals of Freedom given to the Enemies of America," a Jan. 4 X post read.

The user attached an answer by Grok, X’s generative artificial intelligence chatbot, which provided a supposed precedent for such an action. The query that prompted the conversation with Grok read: "Can a president rescind the medal of freedom?"

"Yes, a president can rescind the Presidential Medal of Freedom. While it is rare, there have been instances where a president has revoked this honor," Grok answered. "For example, President Joe Biden revoked the Medal of Freedom awarded to former President Donald Trump's campaign manager, Bradley Birkenfeld, in 2021. The decision to rescind such an honor typically involves significant controversy or actions by the recipient that are seen as contrary to the values the medal represents."

Grok’s answer was also shared in a Jan. 4 Instagram post, which was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Grok’s response contained four inaccuracies: Birkenfeld, a whistleblower, felon and former banker never received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Therefore, Biden could not have revoked it. Birkenfeld also wasn’t Trump’s campaign manager. Finally, no president has ever rescinded the medal.

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PolitiFact contacted X for comment but has not heard back. PolitiFact repeated the query to Grok on Jan. 6, and it gave a more detailed answer. It did not repeat the claim.

Birkenfeld, a former banker for Swiss bank UBS, was imprisoned for his role in helping an American billionaire evade taxes. The IRS later gave him a $104 million whistleblower award, but no president awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

PolitiFact found no news reports or documents that proved he worked as Trump’s campaign manager. Searches for connections between Birkenfeld and Trump surfaced a 2021 report by The Atlantic about how Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski offered Birkenfeld’s associate a deal to secure a presidential pardon in exchange for a fee. Birkenfeld said he declined the offer.

In 2015, after women accused actor and 2002 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Bill Cosby of sexual assault, a reporter asked former President Barack Obama whether he would revoke Cosby’s Medal of Freedom. Obama said there was no precedent and no mechanism to revoke the award.

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., introduced bills in the 114th Congress and 115th Congress to affirm the president’s power to revoke Cosby’s medal and to penalize anyone who "wears or publicly displays a Presidential Medal of Freedom that has been revoked." The bills weren’t passed. 

On its website, xAI, the company that developed Grok, says, "Grok may provide inaccurate or inappropriate information. Since Grok has been trained on publicly available information, it can confidently provide misleading or factually incorrect information." It tells users to "carefully consider and verify Grok’s responses."

Biden did not revoke the Presidential Medal of Freedom for Birkenfeld; Birkenfeld had no medal to revoke. We rate that claim Pants on Fire!