Fact Check

Was a Moving Van Parked Outside White House After Election Day?

Filler footage from C-SPAN went viral.

Published Nov. 4, 2020

 (Screencapture / Twitter)
Image courtesy of Screencapture / Twitter
Claim:
A live shot of the White House taken on Nov. 4, 2020, after the 2020 U.S. presidential election showed a moving truck parked outside.

On Nov. 4, 2020, the day after the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a brief video clip of the White House's North Portico entrance with a Penske moving truck parked outside went viral:

While we note that: A) moving trucks can serve myriad potential uses; and that B) presidents, even when they lose, typically don't move out of the White House until the end of their terms in January, the video is authentic.

The footage came from C-SPAN and shows a live shot of the White House on Nov. 4 at around 2:50 p.m. EST. Used as a visual filler between a press conference for U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham and a press conference for U.S. Senate candidate Cory Gardner, the clip spanned two minutes from 2:50 to 2:52 p.m. Here is the video in context:

https://streamable.com/8xbeqk

Because the video is authentic, the claim of it being a live shot from outside the White House on Nov. 4, 2020, is true. Snopes remains agnostic, however, as to the truck's purpose.

Alex Kasprak is an investigative journalist and science writer reporting on scientific misinformation, online fraud, and financial crime.

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