On Dec. 3, 2019, the bustatroll.org website published an article positing that Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, had paid witnesses an aggregate amount of $40 million in taxpayer money to testify against President Donald Trump in impeachment proceedings:
More corruption from the Democrats today as reports from Capitol Hill suggest that Shifty Adam Schiff has not only been leading an illegal coup against the President, but paying the witnesses with taxpayer dollars. According to our source inside the Congressman’s office, the treachery goes far beyond mere bribery:
“We have almost gathered the proof necessary to go public to the mainstream media about what’s really going on here. Schiff and the Dems have been paying witnesses huge amounts of money to testify against Trump."
This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated with a website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature, as follows: "Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real."
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.