In April Fools Spoof, Koch Brothers Claim “Clinton” Is on Their Payroll

Just not that Clinton.

Amir Levy/Zuma

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


A news site affiliated with the Koch brothers announced in a headline on Friday, “Clinton Confirms She’s on the Koch Payroll.”

The story, of course, was an April Fools hoax.

Kochnews.com published the story, and a disclaimer at the end made clear that it was a joke. The story reads:

Wichita, Kan. – In a tweet Friday morning, Koch Industries, Inc. confirmed that Clinton is indeed receiving funds that link directly back to the CEO of the second largest privately held company in the U.S. – Charles Koch.

“To those who know me best, this doesn’t come as a surprise at all,” Clinton said.

She recently flew to China – on Koch’s tab. Clinton explains why she accepts checks from one of the billionaire Koch Brothers.

“I’ve been solving problems to make things run smoothly across the country – and around the world – for years,” Clinton said. “I actually go to Koch’s headquarters in Wichita a lot. When I’m there, I eat in the café every day. I just love the stir fry.”

Apart from her appetite for Asian cuisine, another little known fact about Clinton is that she was once the mayor of Wesley Chapel, North Carolina, a town currently home to 7,462 residents.

“Even in a small town, politics is a tough job,” Clinton said. “It’s hard to maintain integrity and ethics when you’re surrounded by others who don’t hold the same values you do. But who I am matches Koch’s principles – they just mesh with my personal values.”

Tracey Clinton is an employee of INVISTA, a Koch company. And you’ve been April Fooled.

The piece specifically doesn’t mention Hillary Clinton, choosing instead to refer to “Clinton” throughout. Tracey Clinton, mentioned at the bottom, is employed by a Koch company, and was once the mayor of Wesley Chapel, North Carolina. No word yet from the Hillary Clinton campaign on how funny it thought the gag was.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate