Fact Check

Were Barack Obama's Daughters Arrested in Hawaii?

Reports that Malia and Sasha Obama were arrested for vandalism in Hawaii originated with a satirical web site.

Published Jan. 23, 2017

Claim:
Former President Obama's daughters Malia and Sasha were arrested for vandalism in Hawaii.

In December 2016, TheLastLineOfDefense.org published an article reporting that former President Barack Obama's daughters had been arrested in Hawaii for vandalism:

The Obama daughters were in hot water Monday night after a party in Maui, Hawaii went terribly wrong. After sneaking away from the Secret Service to a party in Maui, the girls were picked up by local police and arrested…for vandalism!!!

This story, like all others published on TheLastLineOfDefense.org, was not true. TheLastLineOfDefense.org is a hoax news and satire site whose disclaimer notes that their content should be regarded as satirical and unreliable:

DISCLAIMER: The Resistance may include information from sources that may or may not be reliable and facts that don’t necessarily exist. All articles should be considered satirical and any and all quotes attributed to actual people complete and total baloney. Pictures that represent actual people should be considered altered and not in any way real.

TheLastLineOfDefense.org also dropped a not-so-subtle hint about the satirical nature of the article within its text. Readers who ventured past the headline and introductory paragraphs were met with closing paragraphs that chastised them for believing the story:

After the DA sent the formal charges to a judge, the case was thrown out because it appears the only thing the girls vandalized was the intelligence of people who read bullsh*t stories like this and leave racist comments on the Facebook page after proving they are constitutionally incapable of paying attention.

The girls, who have managed to be stellar examples of first daughters, did nothing wrong for eight years but have been repeatedly chastised by right-wing douchebags like you for being black.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.