The statement claims that President Joe Biden revoked the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Bradley Birkenfeld. The post suggests that a president has the authority to rescind this honor and mentions the decision to revoke Birkenfeld’s award in 2021. However, this claim is false as Birkenfeld was never actually given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and there is no evidence that he served as Donald Trump’s campaign manager. It is important to note that once awarded, the Presidential Medal of Freedom cannot be revoked by a president.
Birkenfeld, a former banker at UBS, was sentenced to prison in 2009 for aiding a real estate developer in tax evasion. He later received a whistleblower award from the IRS for exposing information about the Swiss banking system, but he did not receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. There is no record of him being a recipient of this honor.
Additionally, there is no evidence to support the claim that Birkenfeld was Trump’s campaign manager. Reports suggest that an associate of Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager, offered to facilitate a pardon for Birkenfeld in exchange for payment, which Birkenfeld declined.
The Instagram post’s assertion seems to have originated from Grok, an AI chatbot, which may not always provide accurate information. It is important to verify claims from reliable sources.
In contrast, President Obama stated in 2015 that it was not possible to rescind the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Bill Cosby amid allegations of sexual assault. Legislation proposed to allow for the revocation of the award did not pass into law.
In January, President Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to several individuals, including Hillary Clinton and George Soros. Efforts to contact the social media user who shared the post for comment were unsuccessful.
The claim has been debunked by our fact-check sources. The Justice Department reported on August 21, 2009, that a former UBS Banker was sentenced to 40 months for aiding a billionaire American evade taxes. In a subsequent report on September 11, 2012, The New York Times disclosed that a whistle-blower was awarded $104 million by the I.R.S. The Congressional Research Service revealed information accessed on January 13 regarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom. On February 10, 2021, The Atlantic covered a story about a million-dollar pardon offer at the Trump Hotel. NBC News, on July 15, 2015, reported on Obama’s stance on Bill Cosby, stating that there was no way to revoke Cosby’s Medal of Freedom. Additional information was found on Congress.gov, accessed on January 13, regarding H.R.4354 and H.R.6810. xAI Consumer FAQs, accessed on January 13, provided further insights.
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This article was first published on USA TODAY, addressing the claim about Biden, Trump, and the Medal of Freedom, which has been proven to be far from true. Thank you for trusting our fact-checking process.
