Fact Check: Did Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff tip off Diddy about Homeland Security raid for $500K?
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs was arrested on September 16, 2024, facing multiple serious charges.
Shortly after, some MAGA supporters highlighted an old tweet from Vice President Kamala Harris, who had praised Combs for hosting a town hall on racial inequality during the Covid-19 pandemic. This resurfaced post drew criticism towards the Vice President.
Now, nearly two months later, a claim has emerged suggesting that Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, tipped off Combs about a Homeland Security raid in March 2024 and allegedly received $500,000 for it. But what is the truth behind these claims? Let's explore further.
Claim: Kamala Harris and DougEmhoff tip off Diddy before raid for $500K
A website, PatriotVoiceNews.com, published an article on Wednesday, October 30, alleging that Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff tipped off Sean 'Diddy' Combs about a March 2024 government raid. The article also had a brief video trying to show a source explaining what had happened.
In March, 2024 Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff tipped Sean “Diddy” Combs off on an upcoming Homeland Security raid.
— AlphaFo𝕏 (@Alphafox78) October 30, 2024
Combs has paid Emhoff $500,000 for this information.
The story was leaked by a lawyer who previously worked with Emhoff at DLA Piper
Diddy destroyed some documents… pic.twitter.com/U3x9OLgS8r
Moreover, several X accounts also shared the claim in posts that received thousands of likes and views. The article and posts also claimed that Combs paid Harris and Emhoff $500,000 for the tip.
False: Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff did not tip off Diddy before raid for $500K
The claims made by the article and social media posts were false as there was no publicly available evidence to back the claim. While investigating PatriotVoiceNews, the site that posted the original article, revealed many reasons why it was not a trustworthy source of information, according to Snopes.
Moreover, evidence suggested that the accompanying video supporting the claim was digitally altered or generated by an artificial intelligence tool.
Proof: PatriotVoiceNews is not trustworthy website for information
Many reasons pointed out that PatriotVoiceNews was not a trusted website for information. It did not have an 'About Us' or masthead page that informed readers about who was behind the site. Those pages are a standard practice for any trustworthy media website.
An IP lookup tool found that the domain name PatriotVoiceNews.com was registered on August 5, 2024, just three months before the article was published, Snopes revealed.
Furthermore, Snopes also used a tool called 'Sitesucker' to download the entire website and uncovered more suspicious information. In just three months, the website had published more than 1,000 articles, all from a single author. This indicated that this was not a legitimate news website.
Accompanying video does not provide enough evidence to back claim
The accompanying video did not provide enough evidence to back the claim. It was shot vertically from a car and had a large blur that covered the person talking, but the hand gestures made by that person did not line up with any of the audio.
Moreover, neither of the two voices in the audio sounded particularly realistic. Like at the 48-second mark, the 'witness' mispronounced Combs' last name.
