This story has been updated.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fake editions of The Washington Post claiming that President Trump was leaving office were handed out Wednesday morning at multiple locations in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The print papers \u2014 dated May 1, 2019, and looking strikingly similar to actual copies of The Post \u2014 were filled with anti-Trump stories, which also appeared on a website that mimicked the official Post site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Post\u2019s PR department released a statement on Twitter: \u201cThere are fake print editions of The Washington Post being distributed around downtown DC, and we are aware of a website attempting to mimic The Post\u2019s. They are not Post products, and we are looking into this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Late Wednesday morning, a group that describes itself as a \u201ctrickster activist collective\u201d called the Yes Men<\/a> said it produced the bogus newspapers and website \u2014 which went offline Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the headline \u201cUnpresidented,\u201d the fake newspaper\u2019s lead story said Trump had left a resignation message on a napkin in the Oval Office and left Washington for Yalta, the Crimean resort that was the site of a meeting of Allied leaders during World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The real print edition of today\u2019s Washington Post is on the left; on the right is a fake edition of The Washington Post. (Marvin Joseph\/The Washington Post)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The false story also reported that his abrupt departure was prompted by \u201cmassive women-led protests\u201d around the country, suggesting that the stunt was a promotion for a planned women\u2019s march on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jacques Servin, who uses the pseudonym Andy Bichlbaum, said he is one of the founders of the Yes Men and that the paper was intended to offer the \u201cgrass-roots movement\u201d ideas for how to support the impeachment of Trump. \u201cThe idea was a newspaper from the future and how we got there \u2014 like a road map for activists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The print and digital newspapers cost about $40,000, Servin said, adding that $36,000 was raised from the organization\u2019s mailing list. The group printed 25,000 copies, and he estimated 10,000 of the papers were distributed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n He said the group \u2014 which is a collaboration between Servin and others, including author-activists Onnesha Roychoudhuri and L.A. Kauffman \u2014 practices \u201cclowny activism.\u201d Several documentaries<\/a>chronicle the collective\u2019s pranks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It put together a similarly fake copy of the New York Times in 2008. That fake edition, which came out after the election of President Barack Obama, had stories depicting liberal activists putting pressure on the new administration. For more than 20 years they have pretended to represent official groups, such as the World Trade Organization and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, at phony news conferences<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fake edition\u2019s slogan reads \u201cDemocracy Awakens in Action,\u201d instead of \u201cDemocracy Dies in Darkness.\u201d (Marvin Joseph\/The Washington Post)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The stunt involving the fake Washington Post newspapers also included two emails sent out Wednesday morning designed to look like they came from a Post account. The first announced the fake news of Trump\u2019s departure and the second was labeled as an \u201cerrata,\u201d correcting the first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Copies of the bogus papers were handed out at locations around Washington, including outside the White House and Union Station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The liberal activist group Code Pink posted a video on Facebook of the organization\u2019s founder, Medea Benjamin, passing out copies at what appears to be a Capitol Hill office building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the video, Benjamin tells people, \u201cThe crisis is over \u2014 Trump has left the White House.\u201d Later, she adds, \u201cYou got to believe in The Washington Post.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Benjamin said in an e-mail that Code Pink, which has become well known in Washington for staging protests that disrupt congressional hearings and other official proceedings, helped to distribute the fake newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The liberal group MoveOn, which some on social media suspected of being behind the fake paper, tweeted that it was not responsible. \u201cWhile we love the headline, we didn\u2019t produce today\u2019s satirical Washington Post,\u201d it said.6<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Emily Heil<\/a>Emily Heil is the co-author of the Reliable Source and previously helped pen the In the Loop column with Al Kamen. Follow <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul Farhi<\/a>Paul Farhi is The Washington Post’s media reporter. He started at The Post in 1988 and has been a financial reporter, a political reporter and a Style reporter. Follow <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Activists distributed hundreds of fake “special editions” of The Washington Post on Jan. 16. Here’s who was behind the hoax.\u00a0(Elyse Samuels \/The Washington Post) By\u00a0Emily Heil\u00a0andPaul Farhi January 16, 2019 (washingtonpost.com) This story has been updated. Fake editions of The Washington Post claiming that President Trump was leaving office were… Continue reading ![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/resizer\/ReHwB_yjpfFGK1Y-7_dERoJtzeU=\/480x0\/arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/GITOF6QZ2QI6TOHGKZYZBQX5BA.jpg\")
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