Fact Check

Was Malia Obama Arrested in an 'Antifa Attack' on an Elderly Woman?

Members of anti-fascist groups (popularly called "antifa") did not attack an elderly woman, and Malia Obama was not arrested in connection with the imaginary altercation.

Published Nov. 6, 2017

 (Wikimedia Commons)
Image Via Wikimedia Commons
Claim:
Members of antifa groups attacked an elderly woman and Malia Obama was arrested in connection with the incident.

As rumors of an Antifa "civil war" circulated on social media, hoax news site The Last Line of Defense published two items: one claiming it attacked an elderly white woman, and a subsequent article suggesting that Malia Obama was arrested in connection with that purported assault.

The first reported:

The mainstream media remains silent as the liberal terrorist organization “Antifa” makes good on their promise to spent the anniversary of Donald Trump’s election “making white people pay” for overwhelmingly making him President.

Already there are reports of arson, at least one casualty, and even a kidnapping in Antifa’s “civil war” against white Christians. One victim of the Left’s attacks was Mabel Gouldman, a Catholic woman who had stopped at Saint Margaret’s Parish in Cambridge, Massachussetts for confession Saturday afternoon.

According to local news reports, 97-year-old Gouldman was “beset upon by four armed thugs wearing black scarves and hoods to conceal their identity.” The four attackers beat Ms. Gouldman with a crowbar, kicking her when she was on the ground. ...

The follow-up named Malia Obama as one of the purported "antifa" antagonists:

According to Cambridge Sheriff Errol Riggs, those arrested in the incident are:

[...]
Freshman Malia Obama

... It is unclear if Malia Obama is one of the attackers quoted by witnesses, but she is in a whole mess of trouble nonetheless.

It has long been speculated that the Obama family is racist against whites and this proves it. What Malia Obama got busted doing today is every bit as bad as getting arrested for violence at a KKK rally. So much for the Obama’s not being racist.

The pieces both caused agitation on social media during a weekend of political tension, but The Last Line of Defense is a fake news site with a clear, if slightly buried, disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: America’s Last Line of Defense is a satirical publication that uses the imagination of liberals to expose the extreme bigotry and hate and subsequent blind gullibility that festers in right-wing nutjobs. We present fiction as fact and our sources don’t actually exist. Names that represent actual people and places are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and do not in any way depict reality.

Before it stoked tensions over antifascist groups and maligned Malia Obama, the site and its sister outlets came under fire for maligning fallen solder Sgt. La David Johnson.

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.