Question

Factcheck this: Secret Service Agents Protecting Biden’s Granddaughter Open Fire Amid Car Break-In

Answer 1

This claim is slightly misleading. Although the claim is true the way it is stated makes it seem as though the car break-in was surrounded or directed towards Biden's Granddaughter. In an article from Fox News, “a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to protect President Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi, opened fire overnight at attempt car break-in suspects in Washington, D.C., Fox News confirmed.” While the Secret Service agent was on duty, the car break-in was an attempt on an unoccupied government vehicle, and the President's granddaughter was not there. Fox News got their evidence from The Associated Press, the DC Metropolitan Police Department, and the Secret Service. BBC had the same sources as Fox News as well as CBS. Both of these articles used quotes from statements that were released from the Secret Service and Police Department. The authors from the BBC and Fox News articles are reputable and have pages that take you to their articles. The claim originated through Reddit, which is generally not trusted as a source, but after digging deeper, multiple articles corroborated this claim on sites such as Fox News and BBC.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/secret-service-agent-fires-gun-car-break-in-suspects-protecting-biden-granddaughter

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67406774

Comments

@sara_bowar I completely agree with your findings. The claim is very misleading since it sounds as if Biden's Granddaughter was in the car at the time. However, I think using Fox News is an interesting source to corroborate the claim. While Fox News did say the same thing as BBC, but recently they've been regarded as a news outlet that has some biases (like most) but it takes a toll on their credibility on how they word their content. Just to be cautious and sure in the answer I feel like its better to go for more reliable sources that are known to be trusted sites.

Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/agents-protecting-bidens-granddaughter-open-fire-car-break-in-incident-ap-2023-11-13/

https://apnews.com/article/naomi-biden-secret-service-shooting-washington-georgetown-997126378e864c5acd0c9a1c6618c4e2

In the AP article it makes the claim clear by saying "The agents, assigned to protect Naomi Biden, were out with her in the Georgetown neighborhood late Sunday night when they saw the three people breaking a window of the parked and unoccupied SUV, the official said."

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I appreciate the fact that you not only cross-checked the articles for consistency, but also cross-checked the sources amongst the articles as well. However, I do have to agree with the sentiment that FoxNews has been proven to be a misleading news source, so the AP article listed by another commenter would certainly be a more reliable one.

https://apnews.com/article/naomi-biden-secret-service-shooting-washington-georgetown-997126378e864c5acd0c9a1c6618c4e2

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I like how you've labeled the claim as true, but explain that it is slightly misleading in its wording, but ultimately true. Good work.

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I really enjoyed reading your fact-check! You did a great job researching and cross-referencing whether this claim on Reddit was true. I also liked that you added how Fox News can often not always be the most trustworthy, however, they did reference reputable sources in their article which adds to their credibility. I would have to agree with your assessment and say this claim is true but slightly misleading. Great Job!