Durrr durrrrrrr
Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman did not create Telegram channel
"CLAIM: Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, created a channel on the popular messaging app Telegram on Jan. 18 and has posted several dozen times there sharing videos, images and phrases such as “nothing can stop what is coming” and “THE TRUTH WILL SHOCK THE WORLD.”
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Hyten’s spokeswoman, Maj. Trisha Guillebeau, confirmed to The Associated Press that the general does not have a Telegram account and that the creator of the channel is impersonating him.
THE FACTS: The Telegram channel titled “General Hyten” was created on Jan. 18. By the next day, it had dozens of posts and well over 200,000 subscribers.
Posts appearing to come from Hyten in the channel urged users not to give up hope and to “have faith.” Some posts included videos or images of President Donald Trump.
The posts hinted at impending breaking news and the potential use of an emergency broadcasting system, mirroring a false theory that President-elect Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration will be interrupted by emergency broadcasts or Trump invoking the Insurrection Act.
Multiple posts in the channel also included terms like “great awakening,” “storm” and “nothing can stop what is coming,” which are frequently used by supporters of QAnon, a false conspiracy theory rooted in the baseless belief that Trump is fighting deep state enemies and a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating a child sex trafficking ring.
The individual sharing the posts used an image of Hyten and claimed to be him, even writing, “The account is maintained by me. -genhyten.”
However, Guillebeau confirmed to the AP that Hyten doesn’t use Telegram and that any account posing as him is an impersonator.
“This Telegram account is fake,” Guillebeau said in a phone interview. “General Hyten doesn’t have any professional or personal social media accounts across the board.”