No, Harris and Emhoff Did not Tip Off Diddy Earlier than Raid

On Oct. 30, 2024, the web site PatriotVoiceNews.com printed an article alleging that Doug Emhoff, the husband of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, had tipped off rapper and sex-crimes suspect Sean “Diddy” Combs a couple of March 2024 authorities raid. The article additionally featured a quick video purporting to indicate a supply explaining what had occurred.

The rumor unfold on X, the place several accounts shared the declare in posts that had 1000’s of likes and lots of of 1000’s of views. The article and social media posts claimed Combs paid Harris — the Democratic nominee for president — and Emhoff $500,000 for the tip.

Nevertheless, there was no proof publicly accessible that proved the declare. Investigating PatriotVoiceNews, the positioning that posted the unique article, revealed a number of the reason why it was not a reliable supply for data. There was additionally proof suggesting that the accompanying video supporting the declare was digitally altered or generated by a man-made intelligence software. The declare is unfounded.

PatriotVoiceNews

There have been a number of pink flags indicating the web site that shared the rumor was untrustworthy. First, PatriotVoiceNews didn’t have any kind of “About Us” or masthead web page that gave readers details about who was behind the positioning. These pages are normal apply for any reliable media web site.

Snopes additionally researched when the positioning was created and who was working it. An IP lookup tool revealed the area identify PatriotVoiceNews.com was registered on Aug. 5, 2024, slightly below three months earlier than the article was printed. Though the IP lookup software didn’t present details about who owned the area, the truth that the positioning was created in summer season 2024 confirmed it didn’t have a storied historical past.

Utilizing a software referred to as Sitesucker to obtain the whole web site uncovered much more suspicious data: In simply three months the web site had printed greater than 1,000 articles, all from a single writer. This “prolific” output indicated that this was not a authentic information operation.

The Article

The article did cite a purported supply (who it mentioned requested to stay nameless) for this rumor: a “lawyer who labored with Emhoff at DLA Piper and has entry to the main points of Combs’ case.”

Emhoff was a lawyer at DLA Piper, a big worldwide legislation agency, from 2017 to 2021. The American Lawyer, a authorized information outlet, reported that Emhoff lower ties with the agency by Inauguration Day 2021 with the intention to keep away from potential conflicts of curiosity.

Provided that Emhoff was not working at DLA Piper when Combs was arrested, nor was there any evidence on-line suggesting that DLA Piper had any connection to the circumstances towards Combs, the legitimacy of the supposed supply was tenuous at finest.

The Video

The accompanying video didn’t clear issues up. It was shot vertically from a automotive with a big blur masking the particular person speaking, however the hand gestures made by that particular person didn’t line up with any of the audio. Neither of the 2 voices within the audio sounded notably lifelike. As an illustration, on the 48-second mark, the “witness” mispronounced Combs’ final identify. 

It was unusual, although not disqualifying, that the video was posted to Rumble, a video-sharing platform widespread amongst conservatives and the far proper. This will likely have been on goal, nonetheless: Not one of the instruments generally used to detect AI-generated content material would analyze the video as a result of it was posted to Rumble.

Whereas there was no cut-and-dried proof that the story was faux, there was vital proof to assist that conclusion. Out of an abundance of warning, we price this declare unfounded. 

Sources