Fact check: No, video does not show Ted Cruz revealing Hunter Biden documents

The claim: Video shows Ted Cruz revealing documents from Hunter Biden’s laptop

USA TODAY has been debunking a series of miscaptioned videos on social media, many of which falsely claim to show politicians fighting or revealing information. In reality, the videos – often clips of political footage edited together – have no connection to the captions.

Following this trend, an Oct. 18 Facebook video claims to show Sen. Ted Cruz revealing new documents from the laptop of Hunter Biden, the president's son.

“'I HAVE NEW EVIDENCE!' - Ted Cruz REVEALS New DOCUMENTS From Hunter's LAPTOP, Exposing Adam Schiff,” the caption reads.

Before it was deleted, a recent iteration of the video received 40,000 views and was shared more than 300 times within a week.

But in the clips of Cruz in the video, he does not display or discuss any documents or mention Biden. Instead, it shows Cruz talking about the history of the Democratic party and violent crime. The video also includes clips of California Rep. Adam Schiff, Kentucky Rep. James Comer, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Texas Rep. Michael Burgess.

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USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the claim for comment.

Video makes no reference to new documents

Biden's laptop was discovered after being left at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware, in 2019, and data from it was obtained by the New York Post in 2020. The laptop has become a talking point for some Republicans in the time since. He’s back in the news as of late, with the Justice Department investigating his business dealings and compliance with tax laws.

But the video featured in the post has nothing to do with his laptop, contrary to its misleading label.

The video shows two different clips of Cruz. In the first, he talks about political violence at a June 7 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on white supremacy and domestic terrorism. He does not mention Biden.

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In the second clip of Cruz, the audio has been removed from the clip.

The footage of Cruz is preceded by videos of Schiff, Comer, Jordan and Burgess. The legislators make remarks about the Trump campaign, national security and rules surrounding the removal of an inspector general. Part of the clip comes from a Dec. 9, 2021, House session. USA TODAY was unable to identify the origin of the other clips, but none address what the video caption claims. The only mention of Biden comes from Comer around the one-minute mark.

“Are you aware of President Biden’s son’s art dealings? Are you aware of the president’s son’s dealings in Congo with the cobalt mine?” Comer asks Schiff. He does not mention a laptop or show records.

This format of misinformation, in which an authentic source of information is miscaptioned, is called false framing, Mike Caulfield, a misinformation researcher at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, previously explained to USA TODAY. This method assumes readers will not read or watch the piece of content and exploits the audience’s trust in the presented source.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows Cruz revealing documents from Hunter Biden’s laptop. The footage of Cruz shows him talking about topics unrelated to the president’s son. The other footage in the clip is not related to Cruz or the laptop.

Our fact-check sources:

• C-SPAN, Dec. 9, 2021, House Session - December 9, 2021

• USA TODAY, Oct. 27, Watch out, Hunter Biden? What voters predict a GOP House majority would do

• USA TODAY, Oct. 10, Fact check: Video shows Ron DeSantis at education forum, not confronting Hunter Biden

• C-SPAN, June 7, Hearing on White Supremacy and Domestic Terrorism Threat

• The Washington Post, July 8, 2021, Deal of the art: White House grapples with ethics of Hunter Biden’s pricey paintings

• The New York Times, Dec. 7, 2021, How Hunter Biden’s Firm Helped Secure Cobalt for the Chinese

• USA TODAY, Nov. 4, Video shows House GOP criticizing Jan. 6 committee, not laughing at Liz Cheney

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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: No, video does not show Cruz revealing Hunter Biden docs