Tweets Claiming Josh Hawley Said ‘There Will Be Riots’ if Trump Is Arrested Were FAKE. Video of Lindsey Graham Saying it on Fox News Is REAL.

By Sarah RumpfAug 28th, 2022, 8:13 pm
 

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) was trending for several hours on Sunday along with the word “riot,” not due to his infamous sprint during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but for a parody tweet falsely attributing a quote to him. The fake news was shortly followed by real news, however, when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) uttered a similar quote on Fox News.

The tweet that seemed to have set off the Hawley rumors was posted by a parody account named “Liam Nissan,” which posted a satirical quote by “Josh Hawley, fastest man alive.”

“There will be riots,” the tweet claimed, if former President Donald Trump is arrested, presumably a reference to the potential criminal prosecution Trump may face in the aftermath of the FBI executing a search warrant at his residence at Mar-a-Lago.

The account posted a follow-up tweet clearly stating it was “satire” and Hawley “didn’t actually say this quote,” along with a dunk on actor and Trump supporter Kevin Sorbo, but the quote from the original tweet was shared by other Twitter users without any indication it was fake.

Palmer Report, a website and Twitter account highly critical of Trump, tweeted that the “claim had gone viral” on Sunday, but could find no evidence that Hawley had actually said it.

“If he did say it, it’s a big deal. Potential incitement,” wrote Palmer Report in follow up tweets. “But I can find no evidence he actually said it…beyond a bunch of Twitter users copycatting each other’s claims, none of which appear to source back to anything. Did he say it on TV? Did he tweet it and delete it? Is the whole thing made up? It matters.”

Several Twitter users pointed Palmer Report to the “Liam Nissan” parody tweets and noted that they could not find any evidence that the quote was actually said by Hawley, including your friendly neighborhood Mediaite contributing editor.

A Google search for recent news mentions of “josh hawley riots” came up similarly empty handed. It may have been a Twitter trending topic but it was not real.

What was real, however, was Hawley’s colleague from South Carolina on Fox News just a few hours later, making a prediction very similar to the wording of the fake tweet.

Graham spoke with Fox News host Trey Gowdy on Sunday Night in America about a recent video clip of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaking about the FBI warning the social media platform about a ‘Russian propaganda’ dump several days before the Hunter Biden laptop story emerged.

Gowdy and Graham discussed the story and then the senator commented that “most Republicans, including me, believes when it comes to Trump, there is no law, it is all about getting him.”

“There is a double standard when it comes to Trump,” Graham continued, saying that regarding the Hunter Biden laptop, the FBI had “weighed in to make sure the story didn’t break before the 2020 election,” and whistleblowers were claiming they were “told to slow down and back off Hunter Biden.”

“And I’ll say this, if there is a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information after the Clinton debacle,” Graham declared, “there will be riots in the street.”

“You know, I’m a simple-minded guy, senator, I think people should be treated the same without regard to political ideology,” replied Gowdy.

UPDATE: Trump himself shared the clip of Graham on Fox News on his Truth Social account shortly before 10 pm ET.

trump post of graham fox news clip on truth social

Screenshot via Truth Social.

Watch the video above, via Fox News.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.