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National File

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National File
Type of site
Blog, news website
FoundedAugust 2019
Founder(s)Alex Jones
EditorTom Pappert
URLnationalfile.com Edit this at Wikidata

National File is an American right-wing blog and news website created by Alex Jones[1][2] in August 2019.[3][4][5][6] It is known for publishing false or misleading claims about COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccines.[13]

Company

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National File was founded in August 2019[4] by far-right figure and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.[1][2] Leaked texts from Jones's phone indicated that he started National File to promote content from his InfoWars website while obscuring its origin to evade Facebook's ban of InfoWars, and to set up a business vehicle for his son Rex.[1]

Its editor-in-chief and owner is Tom Pappert.[4][14] Patrick Howley is a politics reporter for the website.[15]

Content

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National File has been described as right-wing,[3][7][16] far-right,[15][17] and conservative.[5][6][8][18] It is known for publishing COVID-19 misinformation,[13] including false claims that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exaggerated the number of COVID-19 fatalities,[9] that Pfizer was developing an oral drug to be administered "alongside vaccines",[12] and that the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine caused neurodegenerative conditions.[8][10] National File also publishes misinformation about the 2020 United States presidential election.[7] As of early 2021, National File is the 10th most followed account on Gab, a social networking service known for its far-right userbase.[17]

On January 14, 2020, National File reiterated a story from trade publication Tri-State Livestock News,[19] wherein South Dakota cattle veterinarian James Stangle falsely claims that Impossible Whoppers contain "44 mg of estrogen" and that "six glasses of soy milk per day has enough estrogen to grow boobs on a male."[19] Stangle later retracted this story as, in fact, he was referring to isoflavones, not estrogen; Impossible Whoppers contain 2 mg of isoflavones, not 44; and – as of 2021 – there is no evidence showing a link between isoflavones and feminization or childhood development,[20][21] and there is evidence to the contrary.[22][23]

On October 7, 2020, Patrick Howley of National File broke the story that Cal Cunningham, then a Democratic candidate in the 2020 Senate election in North Carolina, had exchanged sexually suggestive texts with a woman who was not his wife.[5][24]

On October 23, 2020, National File published photos they claimed showed Mark Kelly, at the time a candidate in the 2020 special election in Arizona, at a college party in 1985 dressed as Adolf Hitler.[6][16] Several classmates of Kelly's stated that he was not the man in the photo,[5] and PolitiFact rated the National File story "false".[18] Kelly filed a defamation lawsuit against National File on October 26.[16]

On October 26, 2020, National File published what it claimed to be the contents of a diary by Ashley Biden, a daughter of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. The diary had been sold to Project Veritas, a far-right activist group, whose founder said the diary's authenticity could not be confirmed.[25][26]

On February 27, 2022, two days before the Texas Republican primary runoff election, National File posted audio of an interview with former jihadist Tania Joya, a British woman then living in Plano, Texas, who said that she and Van Taylor—U.S. representative for Plano and primary candidate—had a nine-month sexual affair in 2020 and 2021. Joya shared salacious details about the affair and said that Taylor had given her US$5,000 for personal expenses. Her statements circulated widely on social media, prompting Taylor to admit to an extramarital affair and end his reelection campaign, effectively ceding the primary to Republican runner-up Keith Self.[27] Taylor was one of the few Republican U.S. representatives to join Democrats in voting to establish the January 6 commission to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol, a vote that caused him to be intensely criticized by primary election opponents and conservative commentators, despite his conservative voting record on other issues.[27][28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Squire, Megan; Hayden, Michael Edison (March 8, 2023). "'Absolutely Bonkers': Inside Infowars' Money Machine". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023. Jones' text messages suggest Jones and his collaborators sought to launder his Infowars content to social media sites that had banned it, while disguising its true origin. For example, the texts reveal that Jones created the junk-news website National File.
  2. ^ a b Barr, Kyle (March 17, 2023). "Alex Jones' Alleged Secret Site Gets Around Social Media Bans". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023. Retrieved March 27, 2023. In leaked texts shared earlier this month by the Southern Poverty Law Center between him and well-known Republican operative Roger Stone in 2020, Jones said "off record this is my site" in relation to National File.
  3. ^ a b Chandler, Kim (April 9, 2021). "Affair derails Alabama secretary of state's political hopes". The Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Poole, B. (October 28, 2020). "Kelly sues right-wing website over Hitler costume 'lie'". Tucson Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d Sanchez, Yvonne Wingett (October 23, 2020). "Mark Kelly says it's not him dressed as Adolf Hitler for Halloween in yearbook photo". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Sanchez, Yvonne Wingett (October 23, 2020). "Mark Kelly classmates say report on yearbook photo by right-wing media site is false". The Arizona Republic. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c Kornbluh, Jacob (October 1, 2021). "4 GOP candidates in key House races invoke the Holocaust against mask and vaccine mandates". The Forward. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c "Fact Check-No evidence that Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine causes Alzheimer's disease". Reuters. May 12, 2021. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  9. ^ a b Czopek, Madison (February 5, 2021). "No, the CDC isn't inflating coronavirus statistics". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Carballo-Carbajal, Iria (April 29, 2021). "Flawed speculative study incorrectly claims that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause neurodegenerative diseases". Science Feedback. Health Feedback. Archived from the original on September 16, 2024. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  11. ^ MacGuill, Dan (August 20, 2021). "No, Australian Officials Did Not Say They Would 'Seize' and Forcibly Vaccinate 24K Kids". Snopes. Archived from the original on June 28, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  12. ^ a b Sadeghi, McKenzie (September 8, 2021). "Fact check: Pfizer is testing a drug to treat COVID-19 infections. It's not tied to vaccinations". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  13. ^ a b [7][8][9][10][11][12]
  14. ^ Dowd, Katie (January 11, 2021). "The far-right propaganda machine doesn't know what to do with Ashli Babbitt". SFGate. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  15. ^ a b Petrizzo, Zachary (October 28, 2020). "Meet the conservative blogger whose reporting even the far-right won't touch". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  16. ^ a b c Varney, Jame (July 21, 2021). "Lawsuit breathes life into publication's claim that Mark Kelly dressed as Hitler at party". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  17. ^ a b Lee, Micah (March 15, 2021). "Inside Gab, the Online Safe Space for Far-Right Extremists". The Intercept. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
  18. ^ a b Valverde, Miriam (October 25, 2020). "No evidence Mark Kelly dressed up as Hitler". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  19. ^ a b Carman, Tim (December 29, 2019). "Dear men: There's no evidence that eating Impossible Whoppers will give you breasts". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 5, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  20. ^ Fauzia, Miriam (September 10, 2021). "Fact check: No, Impossible Burgers don't contain more estrogen than transgender hormone therapy". USA Today. Archived from the original on September 30, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  21. ^ Hamblin, James (February 3, 2020). "Why Men Think Plant-Based Meat Will Turn Them Into Women". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  22. ^ Messina, Mark J. (May 2010). "Soybean isoflavone exposure does not have feminizing effects on men: a critical examination of the clinical evidence". Fertility and Sterility. 93 (7): 2095–2104. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2010.03.002. PMID 20378106.
  23. ^ Hamilton-Reeves, Jill M.; et al. (August 2010). "Clinical studies show no effects of soy protein or isoflavones on reproductive hormones in men: results of a meta-analysis". Fertility and Sterility. 94 (3): 997–1007. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2009.04.038. PMID 19524224.
  24. ^ Murphy, Brian; Copp, Tara; Alexander, Ames (October 2, 2020). "U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham admits to sexting with California strategist". The News & Observer. Archived from the original on October 3, 2020. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
  25. ^ Kasprak, Alex (March 28, 2023). "Did White House, FBI, or DOJ 'Confirm' Authenticity of Ashley Biden's Diary?". Snopes. Archived from the original on May 11, 2024. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  26. ^ Kasprak, Alex (April 5, 2024). "Fact Check: Posts Claim Contents of 'Ashley Biden's Diary' Have Been Verified. Here Are the Facts". Yahoo News. Snopes. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
  27. ^ a b Gillman, Todd J. (March 2, 2022). "Rep. Van Taylor apologizes for affair with 'ISIS bride,' abruptly drops reelection bid". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, Texas. Archived from the original on July 22, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  28. ^ Gillman, Todd J. (January 27, 2022). "Rep. Van Taylor's rivals say Trump won, Jan. 6 no big deal, and he's out of touch for disagreeing". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, Texas. Archived from the original on March 2, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
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