By Emily Heil and Paul Farhi | Washington Post
Fake editions of The Washington Post claiming that President Donald Trump was leaving office were handed out Wednesday morning at multiple locations in Washington, D.C.
The print papers – dated May 1, 2019, and looking strikingly similar to actual copies of The Post – were filled with anti-Trump stories, which also appeared on a website that mimicked the official Post site.
The Post’s PR department released a statement on Twitter: “There are fake print editions of The Washington Post being distributed around downtown DC, and we are aware of a website attempting to mimic The Post’s. They are not Post products, and we are looking into this.”
Late Wednesday morning, a group that describes itself as a “trickster activist collective” called the Yes Men said it produced the bogus newspapers and website – which went offline Wednesday afternoon.
Under the headline “Unpresidented,” the fake newspaper’s lead story said that Trump had left a resignation message on a napkin in the Oval Office and left Washington for Yalta, the Crimean resort that was the site of a meeting of Allied leaders during World War II.
The false story also reported that his abrupt departure was prompted by “massive women-led protests” around the country, suggesting that the stunt was a promotion for a planned women’s march on Saturday.
Andy Bichlbaum, one of the co-founders of the Yes Men, said the paper was intended to offer the “grass-roots movement” ideas for how to support Trump’s impeachment. “The idea was a newspaper from the future and how we got there – like a roadmap for activists,” he said.
The print and digital newspapers cost about $40,000, Bichlbaum said, adding that $36,000 was raised from the organization’s mailing list. They printed 25,000 copies, and he estimated 10,000 of the papers were distributed.
He said the group, which is a collaboration between Bichlbaum and author-activists Onnesha Roychoudhuri and L.A. Kauffman, practices “clowny activism,” and put together a similarly fake copy of the New York Times in 2008. That fake edition, which came out after the election of President Barack Obama, had stories depicting liberal activists putting pressure on the new administration.
The stunt involving the fake Washington Post newspapers also included two emails sent out Wednesday morning designed to look like they came from a Post account. The first announced the fake news of Trump’s departure and the second was labeled as an “errata,” correcting the first.
Copies of the bogus papers were being handed out at locations around Washington, including outside the White House and Union Station.
The liberal activist group Code Pink posted a video on Facebook of the organization’s founder, Medea Benjamin, passing out copies at what appears to be a Capitol Hill office building.
In the video, Benjamin tells people, “The crisis is over – Trump has left the White House.” Later, she adds, “You got to believe in The Washington Post.”
Benjamin did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Code Pink has become well known in Washington for staging protests that disrupt congressional hearings and other official proceedings.
The liberal group MoveOn, which some on social media suspected of being behind the fake paper, tweeted that it was not responsible. “While we love the headline, we didn’t produce today’s satirical Washington Post,” it said.
