Video of Hillary Clinton blaming climate change for election loss is altered | Fact check
The claim: Video shows Hillary Clinton blaming climate change for 2016 election loss, Epstein's death
A Dec. 17, 2023, Instagram video (, ) shows former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking on a stage.
"I lost the 2016 election because of climate change," Clinton appears to say in the video. "Even Jeffery Epstein died because of climate change. It wasn't me. It was definitely climate change."
The video's caption reads, "Climate change has been especially hard on Hillary Clinton."
It was liked more than 32,000 times in a month.
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Our rating: Altered
The video's audio has been altered. The original video shows Clinton made no such comments. Instead, she talked about gender issues as they relate to climate change.
Video of Clinton at COP28 event is altered
The video shows Clinton at , the United Nations climate summit, participating in a Dec. 4, 2023, event about women’s role in building a climate-resilient world.
However, the video's audio has been altered to change Clinton's comments entirely.
A of the event on YouTube shows Clinton speaking multiple times but never making the comments in the Instagram video. Instead, she discussed , urged related to climate and pointed out that women are more likely to .
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There is no mention of Clinton's purported comments in .
COP28 is the latest iteration of an annual meeting organized by the U.N. that brings together the 198 parties that agreed to the , which was first adopted in 1992. It is meant to be a chance for countries to assess the fight against climate change and set future goals.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
- Firstpost (YouTube), Dec. 4, 2023,
- Reuters, Dec. 3, 2023,
- The Hill, Dec. 4, 2023,
- Independent, Dec. 5, 2023,
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