Fake News: New Hampshire Congressman Arnim Zola Did NOT Deface Presidential Limousine With Swastikas

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: New Hampshire Congressman Arnim Zola Did NOT Deface Presidential Limousine With Swastikas

Did Democrat New Hampshire congressman Arnim Zola deface President Donald Trump's limousine with swastikas? No, that's not true: the news was invented by a Facebook page that was set up to troll conservatives and Trump supporters into sharing fake news so the fans of the page can then laugh at them. It is not real, the story did not happen.

A meme making the claim originated in a post published on June 16, 2018 by Facebook page "America's Last Line Of Defense" (archived here) which describes itself as:

Nothing on this page is real. It is a collection of the satirical whimsies of liberal trolls masquerading as conservatives....

The meme carried following caption:

This is New Hampshire Congressman Arnim Zola, (D). He was arrested thursday when caught by Capitol Police defacing the presidential limousine with swastikas.

We were unable to identify the man in the picture but he's been used as a "lawyer meme" since at least 2017:

Why do I need "Trial Lawyer?" Aren't they all the same? Not BTSLs - J. Steele Olmstead, P.A.

Many folks who see billboards and Television commercials for lawyers assume they are looking at "trial lawyers." As the old saying goes: "When you assume....." To call such lawyers "trial lawyers," could not be any farther from the truth. A more accurate description for them would be "plaintiff mills."

(You can create your own memes with this picture at imgflip.com here)

One thing we do know for sure: Arnim Zola is not a real congressman.

Arnim Zola - Wikipedia

Arnim Zola is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books by Marvel Comics. He is a master of biochemistry and is an enemy of Captain America and the Avengers. He first appeared in Captain America #208 (April 1977), created by writer/artist Jack Kirby.

So don't fall for this meme!

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

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