U.S. Sen. Mike Lee was quick to offer his condolences to the family of Jimmy Carter on the passing of the former president on Tuesday.
Too quick, it turns out. Carter, 99, isn’t dead.
Lee fell for a hoax news release posted to X from the “Office of Jimmy Carter.”
The fake announcement contained some explicit language when referring to Carter’s late wife, Roslyn. It included a fabricated quote from the former president supposedly calling her a “baddie” and the “original Brat” — slang terms for a woman who gets her way — and comparing her sexual abilities to those of the late first lady Nancy Reagan.
The senior senator from Utah appears to have not read that part of the statement when he posted on X from his personal @BasedMikeLee account that, “Former President Jimmy Carter has died. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Lee deleted the post a short time later. His office did not respond when asked about the senator’s goof.
The hoax release concluded with a bogus statement from Carter’s son, Chip, saying that the former president will be missed “not only by his family but by the American people and our enemies around the world who thrive today because of his peace-through-weakness agenda.”
The Carter Center confirmed to television station Atlanta News First that the former president is, in fact, alive. He is in hospice care in Georgia and will turn 100 on Oct. 1.