Fact Check: Public Records Do NOT Mention ‘Mobile Device’ That Supposedly ‘Visited’ House Of Suspect In ISIS Election Day Plot, Office Of US Senator
Do public documents about an alleged plot to carry out a terror attack on behalf of ISIS on U.S. Election Day reveal that a mobile device “visited” the home of one of the suspects and “also visited Senator Lankford’s office on 3 occasions”? No, that’s not true: No publicly available official documents said that. Though the post includes a press release with Department of Justice letterhead, that document doesn’t link Lanford to the suspect. A Google News search brought up no articles mentioning a “mobile device” visiting Lankford.
The claim originated from a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on October 8, 2024. It opened:
Not fishy at all…
An Afghan citizen living in Oklahoma was arrested for planning a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS on U.S. Election Day.
Spoiler Alert: a mobile device that visited the man’s home many, many times, also visited Senator Lankford’s office on 3 occasions.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Oct 9 14:36:07 2024 UTC)
On October 8, 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest of 27-year-old Oklahoma City resident Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi and a juvenile family member for an alleged plot to carry out a terrorist attack on Election Day on behalf of ISIS.
The post on X, which included the DOJ press release and linked to it, implied that official records discussed the supposed “mobile device” that the post said visited the homes of the suspects and of Sen. James Lankford (archived here) of Oklahoma.
But neither the DOJ press release (archived here) nor the unsealed criminal complaint outlining the nature of the case (archived here) reviewed by Lead Stories said anything about that.
Lead Stories additionally went through other court materials entered in the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system in connection with this case (5:24-mj-00760-SM), but found nothing confirming the claim.
A broad search for Lankford’s name (archived here) across the websites indexed by Google News produced a link to one news story (archived here) in which Lankford commented on the case, but he said nothing about the purported “mobile device.” In a different report (archived here), Lankford told journalists that he had been in communication with the FBI for months because of the investigation. Yet no credible media organization reported that he was somehow linked to the suspects via the same “mobile device” or the person or persons supposedly carrying it.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on claims related to current events are here. Stories on claims concerning the 2024 U.S. presidential election are here.
