A clip combining two unrelated addresses by Republican Sen. John Kennedy in May 2022 has been shared online with false claims that the footage shows the Louisiana lawmaker “uncovering new evidence” that would somehow implicate U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“Finally! Mayorkas To Jail As Sen. Kennedy Uncovers NEW Evidence Related To HUNTER Biden’s Laptop,” reads the title of a video posted to Facebook which has been viewed at least 9,200 times since Sept. 6 (here ).
The video was also shared on Bitchute (here)
The 13-minute-long video includes two separate clips of Kennedy.
The first seven minutes show an exchange between Kennedy and Sec. Mayorkas on May 4, 2022, during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2023 funding request for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (here).
The same extract was uploaded to Kennedy’s official YouTube page (here).
The Louisiana Senator questioned Mayorkas about the appointment of Nina Jankowicz as executive director of the DHS’s Disinformation Governance Board. The board’s creation and the announcement that Jankowicz had been appointed to run it provoked a fierce reaction from right-wing critics and drew skepticism from some experts in the field.
On May 18, two months into the job, Jankowicz told Reuters she had resigned from the role (here)
Kennedy asked Mayorkas if the DHS was aware, when they selected her, that Jankowicz “had said that Mr. Hunter Biden’s laptop is Russian disinformation.” This is viewable around timestamp 1:03 (youtu.be/kZrDHGDa474?t=58). Mayorkas replied he “was not aware of that.”
At no point did Kennedy mention “new evidence” as claimed on the Facebook post.
Reporting on Janowicz’s comments on Hunter Biden’s laptop can be seen (here), (here). Reporting on Mayorkas’s answer during the hearing can be seen (here), (here).
From timestamp 7:00 and onwards, the compilation features Kennedy during a press conference about the U.S. economy held by Republican Senators on May 4 (here).
Again, this same video was uploaded to Kennedy’s official YouTube page (here).
Throughout this speech, Kennedy was critical of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and did not refer to Mayorkas, Hunter Biden, a laptop or purported “new evidence.”
Since August, Reuters has debunked four similar unfounded posts that combined unrelated clips alongside false descriptions. Their captions, mentioning alleged actions from Republican politicians, similarly all used mixed fonts and all-caps (here) (here) (here) (here).
A spokesperson for Sen. Kennedy did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
Reuters found no evidence to support the claim made on the Sept. 6 Facebook post.
There are no recent mentions of Mayorkas on Kennedy’s verified Twitter handle (here)) or on deleted tweets database Politwoops (here)
A search on Kennedy’s website (www.kennedy.senate.gov/public/) (here) and Facebook page (here) brought no relevant results either.
VERDICT
Misleading. This video compiles unrelated statements from Sen. John Kennedy from May 4, 2022. The clips do not show Kennedy uncovering “new evidence” somehow implicating U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .