Fact: Trump admin paid energy company $1.2 billion to stop building wind farms.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-rwe-wind-farms

Fact Check

Did Trump admin pay German energy company RWE $1.2B to stop building offshore wind farms?

The Trump administration has already paid several other energy companies to drop in-development offshore wind projects.

Emery Winter

Published Aug. 12, 2026

Image courtesy of Ben Birchall/PA Images, accessed with Getty Images

Claim:

In August 2026, the Trump administration paid German energy company RWE $1.2 billion to stop building wind farms.

Rating:

True

About this rating

In August 2026, social media users claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration paid RWE, a German energy company, more than $1.2 billion to abandon the development of ongoing offshore wind projects.

One popular Facebook post (archived) suggested the government was encouraging RWE to put its money into natural gas projects instead. The caption read:

New levels of stupid just dropped. The Trump administration just wired a German energy company $1.22 billion to NOT build wind farms.

That is the fifth time this year it has paid a company to walk away from clean power, and the total is closing in on $4 billion of public money.

RWE was set to put wind turbines off the coast of Humboldt, California. Enough to power roughly 600,000 homes. Instead Doug Burgum's Interior Department cut them a check to abandon the leases and pour the money into gas.

This is not a subsidy for wind. It is a payout to kill it.

RWE is taking the cash and dropping $900 million into a Louisiana gas terminal and a fleet of new gas plants. So the "energy security" on offer is you breathing more of what comes out of a smokestack, on purpose, because your government paid a premium for it.

Burgum's justification is the best part. He said Americans deserve energy that doesn't lean on "costly subsidies." He said this while handing $1.22 billion to a foreign corporation.

The projects were legal. They were permitted under Biden. Courts keep telling this administration it cannot simply cancel wind farms, and a federal judge in Oregon was leaning against them this week.

So they found a workaround. If you cannot kill the clean energy in court, buy it and bury it.

Cheaper power, off the table. Cleaner air, off the table. Six hundred thousand homes that will now pull from gas burned somewhere a kid has to breathe it.

They will tell you this keeps the lights on and the bills low. It does the opposite. Gas peaker plants are some of the priciest power you can build. The turbines were the cheap option. They paid extra for the dirty one and called it responsible.

Your grandkids inherit the heat. A German company inherits the check.

And somewhere in Essen, an executive is still working out how he got paid a billion dollars to lose.

The story also spread on Reddit (archived) and Instagram (archived), and Snopes readers emailed us asking if the rumor is true.

In short, RWE and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum both announced the deal on Aug. 6, 2026, in a news release and on X, respectively (archived, archived). Therefore, we've rated this claim true.

RWE's news release says the company reached a settlement agreement with the Department of the Interior to abandon the company's offshore wind leases off the coasts of New York, California and Louisiana. According to RWE, it originally secured these leases from the U.S. government and had invested more than $1 billion in development towards these projects. RWE said the leases "represented years of planning, investment, and partnership with federal agencies."

As part of the deal, RWE is instead investing $1.2 billion into natural gas projects, according to the news release.

That same day, Burgum took to X to say the DOI welcomes RWE's agreement and "voluntary investment" in natural gas programs.

This is not the first time in 2026 that the Trump administration has made such a deal. In March, the administration reached a $928 million agreement with French energy company TotalEnergies to cancel two offshore wind projects. In April, the DOI announced a similar deal with two other companies developing offshore wind farms. In each agreement, the DOI described reimbursing the companies for the canceled leases.

According to Reuters, the Trump administration has reached agreements to reimburse energy companies roughly $4 billion in 2026 for canceling in-development offshore wind projects.

For further reading, Snopes has previously fact-checked several other rumors about Trump and wind energy, including a claim that Scotland approved a new wind farm shortly after the U.S. president visited the U.K. and complained about wind turbines.

Sources

"Attorney General James and Governor Hochul Announce Lawsuit Challenging Unlawful Trump Administration Wind Deal." New York State Attorney General, 2 June 2026, https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2026/attorney-general-james-and-governor-hochul-announce-lawsuit-challenging-unlawful. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

Bantel, Solange Petit de. 'United States: TotalEnergies Signs Agreements with U.S. Department of Interior to End Its U.S. Offshore Wind Projects'. Newsroom TotalEnergies, 23 Mar. 2026, https://totalenergies.com/newsroom/?p=14108.

Burgum, Doug. "Secretary Doug Burgum (@SecretaryBurgum) on X." X (Formerly Twitter), 6 Aug. 2026, https://x.com/SecretaryBurgum/status/2085409733989589124. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

Groom, Nichola. "RWE, Trump Administration Reach $1.22 Billion Agreement to Cancel Offshore Wind Leases." Reuters, 6 Aug. 2026, https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/rwe-says-reached-122-bln-deal-cancel-us-offshore-wind-leases-invest-gas-2026-08-06/. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

"Interior and TotalEnergies Agree to End Offshore Wind Projects, Lowering Costs for American Families | U.S. Department of the Interior." U.S. Department of the Interior, 23 Mar. 2026, https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-and-totalenergies-agree-end-offshore-wind-projects-lowering-costs-american. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

"Interior Announces Two Historic Agreements to Promote Affordable, Reliable Energy Production in the United States | U.S. Department of the Interior." U.S. Department of the Interior, 27 Apr. 2026, https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-announces-two-historic-agreements-promote-affordable-reliable-energy. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

"RWE U.S. Offshore Reaches Settlement Agreement With U.S. Department of Interior on Offshore Wind Leases." Rwe.Com, 6 Aug. 2026, https://www.rwe.com/en/press/rwe-americas/2026-08-06-rwe-us-offshore-reaches-settlement-with-doi-on-offshore-wind-leases/. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.

By Emery Winter

Emery Winter is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and previously worked for TEGNA'S VERIFY national fact-checking team. They enjoy sports and video games.

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.

Screwed

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.

What's important

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.

Trump shows Russia tried to help him win election

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-russia-2020-election-declassified-proof/?utm_source=mail.snopes.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=trump-s-declassified-documents-canadian-wildfires-and-more&_bhlid=68dc5c1334dff5149e9aef45bae6546e572f9b8a

Did Trump accidentally declassify proof Russia tried to help him win 2020 election?

The White House declassified intelligence documents that indicated Russia sought to "denigrate" Joe Biden, Trump's opponent in the 2020 election.

Anna Rascouët-Paz

Published July 23, 2026

Image courtesy of Saul Loeb, via Getty Images

Claim:

In July 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump accidentally declassified documents that revealed Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government sought to help him in the 2020 election.

Rating:

Mixture

About this rating

What's True

It's true that among intelligence documents Trump's White House declassified and made public in July 2026 were assessments citing evidence Russia was working to "denigrate" former President Joe Biden, a Democrat and Trump's opponent in the 2020 election.

What's Undetermined

The claim this information about Russia was included "accidentally" is purely speculative, however, based in part on Trump's previous denials of Russian interference and in part on his speech announcing the release of the documents. The main point of that speech, he claimed, was that China had attempted to "undermine [his] first administration and [his and his team's] 2020 campaign.":

After U.S. President Donald Trump's speech on election integrity on July 16, 2026, a rumor spread that among the documents he announced for declassification that day, he "accidentally" included proof that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government sought to help his campaign in the 2020 presidential election.

Several people online amplified the claim, including on Facebook and LinkedIn. On YouTube, progressive political commentator David Pakman called the declassification of this supposed proof accidental and described Trump's move as "one of the most spectacular self-owns of Trump's six- or really 10-year election denial campaign" (archived):

(Trump has consistently repeated the false assertion that he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden, a Democrat, because of electoral fraud.) 

Several Snopes readers reached out seeking more information about the claim. 

While social media posts accurately asserted that the batch of declassified files did include intelligence documents that pointed to Russian efforts to aid Trump's 2020 campaign by "denigrating" Biden, it was unclear whether the declassification of these documents along with those about China was in fact an accident. 

For this reason, we have rated the claim a mixture of true and undetermined information. 

We reached out to the White House to ask if the inclusion of these specific documents in the batch of declassified files was intentional or accidental, and we will update this report should we receive a response. 

Trump said 'other countries' (plural) conspired to compromise the 2020 election:

In Trump's July 16 speech in which he announced the declassification of the documents, he said they revealed that several forces converged to undermine the election. 

"China engaged in other election-related activities to undermine my first administration and our 2020 campaign," Trump said. 

But he added that countries like Russia, Iran and North Korea were among other countries with the power to "compromise U.S. election infrastructure." The transcript of the address read (emphasis ours):

Tonight, we're publishing a series of previously classified US intelligence community assessments and other reports proving that our government has long known these machines are extremely exposed to attack. As one assessment states, we judge that the United States' adversaries, including at a minimum Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, as well as non-state groups have the capability to compromise US election infrastructure.

That day, the White House published the files in four thematic batches: 

• Vulnerabilities in Electronic Voting and Ballot-Counting Systems
• China's Acquisition and Exploitation of American Voter Data
• Michigan Voter-Registration Investigation
• Noncitizens on State Voter Rolls:

Snopes downloaded all four batches of documents and uploaded them to Google Drive for safekeeping. 

Document shows Putin and Russian government favored Trump

In the first batch, we found two separate intelligence documents that cited Russia as an election risk. 

The first one is a National Intelligence Council Assessment dated Aug. 19, 2020, near the end of Trump's first term. This document read, on its first page: 

We assess that Russia is using a range of measures primarily to denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia establishment. For example, it is directing or encouraging proxies to spread claims about Vice President Biden. Some Kremlin-linked actors are also seeking to boost President Trump's candidacy on social media.

(The Kremlin is Russia's presidential palace, where Putin lives and works.)

On Page 2, the same document mentions Putin as one of the people personally leading the effort to discredit Biden: :

President Putin and senior Russian officials are overseeing efforts by proxies—[REDACTED]—to spread claims about former Vice President Biden as well as Ukrainian politicians and alleged Ukrainian influence in the 2016 US election. 

On Page 3, the document says these efforts favored Trump, who was president at the time (emphasis ours): 

[REDACTED] Since our assessment in May, [REDACTED] Russia continues to use statemedia, social media, and other online media platforms to denigrate the former Vice President [Biden], the Democratic Party, and the US political "establishment" and to promote divisions in the country. This content has largely been favorable to the President, but on occasion it criticizes his administration for policies that run counter to Russian interests.

Moreover, on the same page, the report indicates that Russia had contributed to the spread of assertions designed to lower public confidence in electoral processes and in the integrity of Biden's party, assertions Trump has widely amplified:

Russian actors have circulated narratives about voter fraud resulting from mail-in balloting and called some US primary voting processes "rigged" by the Democratic Party.

These findings corroborated those of another assessment by the intelligence community, declassified in 2021, which read on PDF Page 4:

Key Judgment 2: We assess that Russian President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US. Unlike in 2016, we did not see persistent Russian cyber efforts to gain access to election infrastructure. We have high confidence in our assessment; Russian state and proxy actors who all serve the Kremlin's interests worked to affect US public perceptions in a consistent manner. A key element of Moscow's strategy this election cycle was its use of proxies linked to Russian intelligence to push influence narratives—including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden—to US media organizations, US officials, and prominent US individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration.

For further reading, Snopes debunked several of Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, including his assertion that mail-in ballots increase the risk of voter fraud.

https://fox40.com/news/cyclosporiasis-outbreak/taylor-farms-political-donations-cyclosporiasis-outbreak/

Taylor Farms political donations questioned amid cyclosporiasis outbreak

by: Brett Stover

Posted: Jul 20, 2026 / 12:19 PM PDT

Updated: Jul 21, 2026 / 05:48 AM PDT

(FOX40.COM) — Past political donations from Taylor Farms are raising eyebrows as the California-based produce supplier is tied to an ongoing parasitic outbreak.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a positive test for cyclosporiasis in a Taylor Farms product that was outside the scope of the company’s ongoing recall — and then quickly retracted that result Sunday.

“Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive,” the FDA said in a statement.

A FDA official said Monday the false positive test does not change the “very strong” epidemiological evidence connecting the company to the cyclosporiasis outbreak. The agency still advises the public to not eat the recalled produce from Taylor Farms, including Marketside-brand iceberg salad and shredded lettuce from Walmart.

Read more: CDC links cyclosporiasis outbreak to Taco Bell lettuce

Amid the confusion, several left-leaning social media accounts noticed a political connection between Salinas-based Taylor Farms and President Donald Trump.

According to campaign contribution records from the Federal Election Commission, Taylor Farms has donated more than $3.8 million to conservative-aligned groups this decade.

Just last year, the company made two million-dollar donations: $1 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, which supports Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, and $1 million for MAGA Inc., a super PAC that supports Trump.

Additionally, CEO and founder Bruce Taylor has donated more than $1 million himself to Republican-aligned PACs over the past two decades.

Neither Taylor Farms nor the FDA responded to FOX40’s requests for comment.

Under the second Trump administration, the FDA has seen massive job cuts, with the agency shrinking by more than 4,000 employees since the start of 2025. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the FDA lost 3,879 employees last year and another 705 so far in 2026.

According to the New York Times, the FDA’s investigation has tied the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak to Taylor Farms de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V.

Agency records show the central Mexico facility was last inspected on June 21, 2019.

Add as preferred source on Google

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.

We know what's rigged, donny boy

https://www.dailykos.com/category/cartoon/

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.

Iran, Japan, what's the diff? | Snopes.com

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-islamic-republic-japan/?utm_source=mail.snopes.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=dc-cherry-trees-trump-s-islamic-republic-of-japan-gaffe-and-more -- Sent from my Linux system.

Clown car

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.

How Trump made more than $1 billion on crypto when most of his coin's investors lost money

https://abc7ny.com/story/how-trump-made-more-1-billion-crypto-when-most-coins-investors-lost-money/19457452/

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks with reporters before boarding the new Air Force One, a plane gifted by the Qatari government, on July 1, 2026.

Evan Vucci/Reuters

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.

Let's hope the idiot finally gets what's coming to him.

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.

Trump's motorcade drove through newly painted reflecting pool? | Snopes.com

Arrest these vandals!!!!!

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-motorcade-reflecting-pool/?utm_source=mail.snopes.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=video-shows-trump-motorcade-driving-through-reflecting-pool

Did Trump's motorcade drive through newly painted reflecting pool?

A White House official posted a video of the motorcade crossing the landmark on May 7, 2026.

Anna Rascouët-Paz

Published June 23, 2026

Image courtesy of Alex Brandon, via Getty Images

Claim:

U.S. President Donald Trump's motorcade drove through the newly painted and sealed Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Rating:

True

About this rating

Context

Trump's motorcade passed through the empty pool on May 7, 2026, after it was painted and sealed and before it was refilled with water as part of a renovation project.

In June 2026, a claim spread online that President Donald Trump's motorcade had driven through the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after it was painted and sealed as part of a more than $14 million renovation project.

The rumor circulated as the U.S. National Park Service struggled to maintain the appearance of the Washington, D.C., landmark after Trump ordered it to be repainted to "American flag blue" for the country's 250th anniversary. 

Examples of the claim spread on X and Instagram, while the self-described progressive Facebook page Occupy Democrats posted it on Facebook. That post featured an image of five black SUVs driving through the empty pool, and overlaid text suggesting the motorcade may have damaged the paint and sealant before it had fully set, thus later causing the paint to peel off.

(Occupy Democrats)

Several Snopes readers also emailed us and searched our website to verify the veracity of the story.

In short, the claim is true and the images are authentic. In early May 2026, after the pool was repainted dark blue and before the NPS began to refill it with water, a White House official posted a video showing Trump's motorcade driving though the landmark. 

Snopes contacted the White House to ask about the purpose of the drive across the pool. We will update this article if we receive a response.

Claims that the official cars had driven though the pool surfaced as early as May 7, 2026 (archived):

Various X posts credited the above video to White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who posted it earlier that day (archived):

"They see me rolling," Cheung's post reads, referencing rapper Chamillionaire's 2005 song "Ridin'." Cheung added, "President Trump rides in the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial!"

That day and the next, multiple news outlets reported on the motorcade crossing the hallowed site, including CNN, The New York Post, NBC, Washington, D.C., CBS affiliate WUSA9, ABC7 News and Forbes. 

CNN said Trump "was there to tour the site and see the new color." 

NBC showed footage of the cars crossing a seemingly wet patch of paint, leaving tire marks behind. Forbes showed the same clip.  

It is unclear whether the motorcade may have contributed to the paint peeling off a month later.

For further reading, Snopes debunked a rumor that the Trump Organization was selling pieces of peeling paint from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Sources

ChamillionaireVEVO. "Chamillionaire Ft. Krayzie Bone - Ridin' (Official Video)." YouTube, 17 June 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtwJvgPJ9xw. Accessed 23 June 2026.

Christensen, Laerke, and Nick Hardinges. "Is Trump Organization Selling Peeling Paint from Reflecting Pool?" Snopes, Snopes.com, 23 June 2026, www.snopes.com/fact-check/trumps-selling-paint-reflecting-pool/. Accessed 23 June 2026.

Forbes Breaking News. "President Trump Visits the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as Construction Continues." YouTube, 8 May 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-1FEZ76m7Y. Accessed 23 June 2026.

Hardinges, Laerke Christensen, Nick. 'Is Trump Organization Selling Peeling Paint from Reflecting Pool?' Snopes, 23 June 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trumps-selling-paint-reflecting-pool/.

Izzo, Jack. 'How the Cost of Trump's Reflecting Pool Renovation Compares to Obama's'. Snopes, 17 May 2026, https://www.snopes.com//news/2026/05/17/trump-obama-reflecting-pool-cost/.

NBC4 Washington. "Trump Drives across Reflecting Pool to Inspect Blue Coating He Ordered | NBC4 Washington." YouTube, 8 May 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZDtYhwhD18. Accessed 23 June 2026.

New York Post. "WATCH: Trump's Motorcade Drives over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool." YouTube, 7 May 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVa-a2ZFEGE. Accessed 23 June 2026.

"President Trump Goes for Ride across Emptied Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool." ABC7 DC, May 2026, www.youtube.com/shorts/NPW-MS23mt8. Accessed 23 June 2026.

Rascouët-Paz, Anna. "Is Reflecting Pool's Blue Paint Peeling Off?" Snopes, Snopes.com, 19 June 2026, www.snopes.com/fact-check/blue-paint-peeling-reflecting-pool/. Accessed 23 June 2026.

"Trump Motorcade Drives through Reflecting Pool." CNN YouTube Shorts, 8 May 2026, www.youtube.com/shorts/H8hyMGP3pcE. Accessed 23 June 2026.

Winter, Emery. "Were 'Antifa Operatives' Arrested for Dumping Algae in Reflecting Pool?" Snopes, Snopes.com, 18 June 2026, www.snopes.com/fact-check/antifa-algae-reflecting-pool-trump/. Accessed 23 June 2026.

WUSA9. "Trump Drives across Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to Inspect New Blue Coating He's Putting on It." YouTube, 7 May 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuAmvvMxqeg. Accessed 23 June 2026.

By Anna Rascouët-Paz

Anna Rascouët-Paz is based in Brooklyn, fluent in numerous languages and specializes in science and economic topics. Got tips? Reach out to her on Signal at rascouetsnopes.41 or via email at anna@snopes.com.

-- 
Sent from my Linux system.