Maui fire’s many conspiracy theories

This week:?A special counsel for Hunter Biden probe … Conspiracy theories about the Maui wildfires … How one wildlands firefighter pushed back ... Preparing for next week’s GOP debate with claims by Mike Pence, Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis … Fact-checking Donald Trump’s Fani Willis attacks?

Four conspiracy theories about the Maui fires, and counting?

So far, our coverage of the deadliest U.S. blaze in a century has been spent knocking down conspiracy theories about how the fire in Maui was started.?

We found several social media posts using an image to make?claims about a laser beam ?coming down from the heavens to start the Hawaii fires. Direct energy weapons, such as lasers, radio frequency devices and high-powered microwaves are real, and the U.S. and other governments are exploring using them for military purposes. But those weapons are not depicted in the Hawaii claim. One photo showing a ground fire and a beam of light in the sky above has been circulating online in other baseless claims since 2018.

The same speaker in a different Instagram video uses several real or planned events to support a baseless claim that the Hawaii fires were purposely set so the government can remake Maui as a "smart island,” something like a “smart city.” “Smart cities” use technology to collect data to help them run more efficiently, such as by improving transportation or electric grids.?

As evidence of the “smart island” plot, the video cites a "smart city" conference in January. The concept of smart cities was among many topics researchers broached at a January conference in Maui, but the research was not specific to Maui.?We rate the claim False .

Staying with this “smart” thread, some social media users presented a shortened clip of Gov. Josh Green to?falsely claim ?his comments show a state plan to usher in smart cities. An Instagram video showed a clip of Green talking to TV news reporters in Lahaina. "I’m already thinking about ways for the state to acquire that land, so that we can put it into workforce housing," he said in the clip. The Instagram video then cuts to a man speaking from a TikTok video, who says, "Let me get this straight. The houses burned down. Most of the trees are fine. The governor’s talking about how to acquire the land and turn it into smart homes. Am I understanding correctly?"

This video cut Green's comments short and shared them out of context.?His full comments ?show he was discussing ways the state could buy land to preserve it.

And, finally, some online conspiracy theorists claimed the destruction was not complete enough to have been caused by a wildfire. "This was no wildfire," an unidentified narrator said in an Aug. 11 Facebook post. "A wildfire that demolishes buildings, leaving trees standing?”

But wildfire experts?said it’s common for trees, utility poles and more isolated features to remain standing ?even as wildfires destroy other structures in the same area. Lee Frelich, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Forest Ecology, said structures such as trees and utility poles are less likely to be consumed by wildfire flames because heat can escape to the atmosphere, they are exposed to flames for less time than things in an enclosed space, and oxygen, which is needed for combustion, can reach only the outside of a solid wood object.

Hawaii officials have said they don’t yet know what caused the fires, but investigators are examining whether downed power lines played a part.?

— Reporting by Jeff Cercone and Madison Czopek

BONUS READ: Michael Clark, a wildland firefighter based in Oahu, jumped into the fray on Instagram to push back on several conspiracy theories that I just mentioned. Clark told Poynter’s Angela Fu that he felt a responsibility “as a professional in the wildland firefighting career to try and speak up.”

“I don’t necessarily know if these people truly believe that this is happening or they’re just trying to get views, but it’s very inconsiderate against the people who lost families and who lost their homes,” Clark said. “And instead of taking the time and having a serious conversation saying, ‘Hey, how come Hawaii is so incredibly hot right now?’ they’re saying it’s lasers.”

Read the?full story at Poynter.org .

PolitiFact spoke with Clark?in 2021 during United Facts of America about his online debunking of?2020 wildfire conspiracy theories.?WATCH >>

Does Georgia indictment criminalize such everyday activities as making calls?

President Donald Trump’s allies are reframing Trump’s Georgia indictment as the work of overzealous prosecutors who are pursuing defendants for mundane — and legal — activities.

"Things that are apparently illegal in America," wrote Libs of TikTok, a conservative social media account with 2.4 million followers on X, formerly Twitter.??

"1. Tweeting that you’re watching TV?

"2. Reserving rooms for meetings?

"3. Asking someone for a phone number."

We found several other examples of Trump’s allies plucking a couple of sentences from the indictment and isolating them as everyday activities deemed criminal. Todd Starnes, a conservative columnist and radio show host, claimed tweeting was a criminal offense. In a since-deleted post, Greg Price, a conservative social media commentator, claimed "getting people to attend legislative hearings" is now illegal.

In isolation, none of those things would be illegal. But prosecutors aren’t saying these actions on their own are criminal. Rather, the prosecution, using the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization, or RICO, statute, will try to convince jurors that the defendants pursued these humdrum acts in service of a broad conspiracy to violate the law.

"There are lots of innocuous, everyday actions that are perfectly lawful, if not constitutionally protected, when taken on their own, but that can be evidence of overt acts in furtherance of a conspiracy," Steve Vladeck, University of Texas law professor, told PolitiFact.

John Felipe Acevedo, an Emory University law professor, pointed to the example of a bank robbery. It is not a criminal act to search for a bank address on Google or tune up your car. But investigators view those actions in different legal light if they find they were part of a plan to rob a bank and use the car for a getaway.

"Intentions matter," Acevedo said, "and since people rarely announce that they are about to commit a criminal act, context matters."?

The 98-page indictment lists 161 acts it alleges "were committed in furtherance of" the "conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump."

Here’s the fact-check of Trump’s online defenders ?by Madison Czopek, Amy Sherman and Louis Jacobson.

FURTHER READING?→?3 ways the Georgia indictment is different

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Fact-checks of the week

The theme of this week's picks: claims that may come up at Wednesday's GOP debate on Fox News.

• A theory in practice??Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as part of his campaign against?“wokeness,” ?claimed his administration "eliminated" critical race theory from Florida’s K-12 schools. The state has rejected prospective teaching materials in recent years that it claimed was related to CRT. But school officials and several Florida public school districts said the theory has never been part of Florida’s K-12 curriculums. It has been taught primarily at the university level, often appearing in law and graduate courses. We rate this claim?Mostly False.
• Independence lens.?On “Meet the Press,” former Vice President Mike Pence claimed an energy milestone he achieved with President Donald Trump President was undone by Joe Biden. “In three short years, we achieved energy independence,” Pence said. We rate this claim?Half True. ?Pence has a point that on Trump’s watch, the U.S. began producing more energy than it consumed and exporting more than it imports. Both were achievements the U.S. hadn’t seen in decades. However, this didn’t happen "in three short years" — it built on more than a decade of improvements in shale oil and gas production, as well as renewables. The U.S. also didn’t achieve net exporter status for crude oil, from which gasoline derives.
• Title 42 for fentanyl??Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said that in his first 100 days as president, he would “make Congress pass” a bill he wrote codifying asylum restrictions similar to those in Title 42, an expired public health policy that allowed for quick expulsion of migrants at the border. Scott’s bill said that “in response to the fentanyl public health crisis,” it would suspend people who are not legally allowed to enter the U.S. from entering the country through Mexico or Canada. But policy experts say Scott?can’t use the fentanyl crisis to restore Title 42 ?— and such measures would be unlikely to reduce the fentanyl coming into the country or the number of overdose deaths.?

Quick links to more fact-checks & reports?

• What’s a special counsel, ?and why did Merrick Garland appoint one in the Hunter Biden investigation?
• A television ad targeting U.S. Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.,?misleads ?North Carolinians about a health bill.
• No, suspected voter registration irregularities in Michigan?didn’t result ?in 2020 election fraud.
• Donald Trump’s?misleading attack ad ?on Fulton County, Georgia, District attorney Fani Willis’ “relationship with a gang member.”
• Photos of hooded shoppers were taken in California and Colorado,?not at ?Vasser’s Mini-Mart in Selma, Alabama.

Do you smell smoke??

Here's your Pants on Fire fact-check of the week:?

The Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in 1945, despite conspiracy theories claiming otherwise.

See what else we've rated?Pants on Fire ?this week.?

Have questions or ideas for our coverage??Send me an email.

Thanks for reading!

Katie Sanders

PolitiFact Managing Editor?

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