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  • 2016-12-12 (xsd:date)
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  • Trump Hotels Lease Violation 'Action Alert' (en)
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  • In December 2016, the above-reproduced e-mail and Facebook forward circulated, asserting that the U.S. General Services Administration was tallying complaints about a potential conflict of interest by the incoming Trump administration about a property leased in Washington, D.C. The claims that Trump's involvement with the property presented a conflict of interest were not new when the action alert began circulating. Multiple news outlets covered the story in late November 2016: The forwarded material also claimed that citizens could contact the GSA to complain, that such attempts to lodge complaints were being tallied by the GSA, that a specific e-mail address ought to be used to do so, and that the claims were verified by a receptionist at the GSA. Although the author of some versions of the forward said that they called the GSA (instead of e-mailing), no number was provided. In our attempts to verify the claim, we called all available primary GSA numbers. Each number offered a menu of number-based options, none of which involved a receptionist. The closest we came was a customer service agent, who was unaware of the purported tally and did not appear to be taking one herself. Another aspect of the claim that suggested the action alert was misguided was that the provided e-mail address was strictly for members of the media, not citizens approaching the GSA. Although the address was an avenue of contact, it was an inappropriate one that would serve only to interfere with GSA-press relations. The GSA rumor strongly resembled another Trump-related action alert involving the Justice Department and a separate purported tally. As we reported previously, no one was keeping a tally, and no action was taken due to the initiative. The GSA forward also contained copy and paste, don't share modifier (a distinctive hallmark of e-mail forward hoaxes), making its roots impossible to trace. Although such actions made people feel as if they were engaging in meaningful objection, they often caused headaches for those on the receiving end of these requests without having a measurable effect. We contacted the GSA via telephone and their presumably inundated e-mail address for media inquiries, but have not yet received a response. However, the similarities between the Justice Department tally claim and the Trump Hotels plea were extensive enough that it appeared to possibly be the same rumor, but involving different entities. It seems safe to say that if the GSA was accepting public comment on the Old Post Office building situation, it was not doing so through its press hotline. (en)
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