No evidence White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was involved in a drunken driving crash

Social media was hot with a rumor that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had been involved in a car crash and was facing potential legal consequences.

“[BREAKING] KARINE JEAN-PIERRE INVOLVED IN REAR-ENDER. Sources say accident happened late last night. [DEVELOPING],” read a March 26 tweet that received over 1.9 million views. The tweet was posted by an account called “iSource News,” which says it reports “intelligence” from named and unnamed sources. Additional details about the supposed crash were shared in a thread that claimed Jean-Pierre was the driver and that “unnamed sources” said she paid off the “victim.” 

Another tweet shared March 28 claimed Jean-Pierre had been drinking at work and that police covered up the incident: “DRUNK DRIVING ACCIDENT? She Was DRINKING on The Job Friday! DC METRO POLICE REFUSING TO RELEASE BODY CAM FOOTAGE OF KARINE JEAN-PIERRE ACCIDENT. Witnesses say she was slurring her words, and difficulty standing straight.”

Several obscure blogs also repeated the claim and pointed to unnamed “sources” and Twitter posts as evidence.

But we could find no actual evidence that Jean-Pierre was involved in any drunken driving crash, or that she was charged with DUI.

The White House told PolitiFact that the claims are fabricated. The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department said that it had “no record” of the alleged incident. 

A reverse-image search also revealed that one of the images of a police SUV used repeatedly in stories and posts about the supposed accident is from a September 2022 police video in Colorado. 

That Sept. 16 incident involved a woman who was seriously injured when a train hit a police SUV she was in. The SUV was parked on a railroad crossing and the woman was sitting handcuffed in the back seat. In the posts about Jean-Pierre, the image of the SUV with a back door open is a zoomed-in version of the original screenshot and cuts out the incoming train.

Another image showing the back of an officer who wore clothes labeled “police”  appears in many of the posts, but it isn’t from March 2023, either. A search showed the image is from Jan. 7 Memphis, Tennessee, police body camera footage that was released following the killing of Tyre Nichols.

We rate these claims Pants on Fire!

By

Samantha Putterman

Staff Writer

April 5, 2023

Truth-o-meter Ruling

Pants on Fire!

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• The White House told PolitiFact that the claims are fabricated.

• Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department said it has no record of the alleged incident.

Statement

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was involved in a covered-up DUI accident

Context

a tweet

Speaker/Target

Speaker: X posts

Statement Date

March 26, 2023