No, Rep. Swalwell is not facing charges for lying to Congress | Fact check

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., center, with Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., left, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, in Washington.
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The claim: Rep. Eric Swalwell faces charges for lying to Congress

A May 25 Facebook video says Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, is in trouble for his behavior in Congress.

"'THEY DEFUND F.BI’ (sic) Swalwell DESTROYS his career after lying to Jim Jordan...faces CHARGES INSTANTLY," reads the video's caption.

The video was shared more than 300 times in six days.

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Our rating: False

The video is miscaptioned. It shows Swalwell speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. There is no evidence Swalwell is facing charges for lying during the hearing.

No evidence Swalwell faces criminal charges

The video shows a portion of a Feb. 28 meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Jordan, a Republican from Ohio. The hearing involved the markup of the judiciary authorization and oversight plan.

At no point in the clip is Swalwell accused of lying, nor is there any credible report from any agency or media outlet that he will face criminal charges.

Swalwell was among multiple federal and local officials tied to an intelligence operative for China who ended up volunteering for him. He never faced charges for it, and the House Ethics Committee closed an investigation into Swalwell on May 23 without finding wrongdoing.

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USA TODAY has debunked numerous posts that pair false captions with videos of politicians or cable news programming, a type of misinformation known as "false framing."

Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, previously told USA TODAY the technique works in two ways. First, users tend to trust a post that features authentic footage from what they recognize as a credible source. It also exploits how users often scroll past the video with the sound off, never realizing the caption doesn’t match what the video shows.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the video for comment and did not immediately receive a response.

PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Swalwell faces charges for lying to Congress | Fact check