Despite Trump’s continued support, Boebert has not stated outright that she would endorse him in the 2024 campaign since she secured her second term in Colorado’s 3rd congressional district. She also offered kind words to Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s likely opponent in a race for GOP nomination.
One tweet attributed to Boebert even appeared to suggest she had unwittingly put the former president in hot water over his tax affairs, as he faces investigations by House Democrats and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, among others.
The Claim
A tweet, posted on December 4, 2022, stated “Lauren Boebert: ‘How can President Trump be charged for tax fraud when he’s never paid any taxes?’”
The post, archived here, received more than 8,500 engagements, including 7,100 likes, since Sunday.
A screenshot of the post was also shared on the r/PoliticalHumor subreddit, receiving more than 35,000 upvotes.
The Facts
The Colorado Congresswoman has previously spoken about Trump’s tax history as a non-issue, tweeting in September 2020: “No one cares about Trump’s taxes, but while we’re on the topic…Can we all agree that the tax code in this country needs to get way simpler?”
Boebert has also offered some support to Trump since the midterms, defending the former president’s seemingly waning influence within the GOP. In November 2022, she tweeted: “If Trump is truly a ‘weak candidate’ with no chance, as the media loves to say, then why is Merrick Garland so hellbent on taking him down?”
However, her purported comments about Trump’s tax affairs are, in fact, fictitious.
The account, Captain Obvious @TheFungi669, which posted the alleged Boebert quote, previously published a number of other unlikely statements supposedly from Republicans, including Herschel Walker and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
One tweet, posted on December 5, 2022, and falsely attributed to Greene, said: “‘Please show compassion for Herschel Walker. He’s had concussions for as long as he can’t remember.’”
The same day, another tweet, this time about Greene and attributed to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), stated: “‘I know that Marjorie Greene is crass and identifies with conspiracy theories involving Jewish space lasers and pedophiles, but she’s become far too popular with our voters to risk upsetting her.’”
Newsweek was otherwise unable to find comments by Boebert that echoed or bore any similarity to the one shared on Twitter.
As stated above, not all of Boebert’s recent comments have been unwaveringly in support of Trump. In a recent interview on the back of November midterms, and Trump’s presidential run announcement, Boebert said while she “certainly wouldn’t turn my back on President Trump,” she added “with that, I love Governor Ron DeSantis.”
“He is America’s governor and he has the same policies,” Boebert continued. “I know that his focus right now is governing the state of Florida but at this time, with 2024 in the far future, I am very much concerned on legislating and being a productive representative for my constituents.”
Newsweek has contacted Lauren Boebert and Captain Obvious for comment.
The Ruling
Satire.
While Boebert has previously said she considers Trump’s tax affairs a non-issue, Newsweek found no record of this particular quote, which appears to be made up as a joke. It was posted by a Twitter account that makes fun of politicians by pairing them with unlikely quotes.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
