Fact Check

Did Donald Trump Appoint Sarah Palin as a Science Advisor?

A report that President-elect Trump appointed the former governor of Alaska as a Science and Technology Advisor is a fake news tidbit.

Published Jan. 2, 2017

Claim:
President-Elect Donald Trump appointed Sarah Palin Science and Technology Advisor.

On 5 December 2016, the World News Daily Report web site published an article reporting that President-elect Donald Trump had officially announced former Alaska governor (and 2008 vice presidential candidate) Sarah Palin was in line to become his new Science and Technology Adviser:

Critics of the administration have already voiced their concerns over the choice of the former Alaska governor, known to be a fierce climate change denier, to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology of the United States.

“Far too long has the Chinese narrative over climate change kept our economy in a rut. It’s time to open the pumps and as I like to say: Drill, baby, drill! ”

– Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor

a trump palin wh science advisor

This tweet did not appear in Twitter's history of Trump's account, and no other news outlet reported what would have been an undoubtedly highly newsworthy appointment.

That lack of additional coverage is because this report originated with World News Daily Report, a fake news site.  The site used an old and unrelated image of Donald Trump and Sarah Palin together (which dated to 2011) to suggest that the pair had met during the President-elect's transition period in late 2016.

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.