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Fake editions of The Washington Post circulate in D.C., imagine future in which Trump resigns

Posted at 9:53 AM, Jan 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-16 12:53:07-05

Washington, D.C., was ripe with fake news today. Literally.

Fake editions of The Washington Post were circulating in the nation's capital Wednesday morning, according to multiple reports from news outlets and posts on social media.

"UNPRESIDENTED," the copies of the WaPo mock-ups read. And underneath the headline reads, "Trump hastily departs White House, ending crisis." The theme of the hoax publication seems to be imagining a future in which Trump resigns from office.

"Celebrations break out worldwide as Trump era ends" and "How DC stepped up to shut down Trump" were other headlines featured on page A1.

According to the (real) Washington Post , this could be the work of the activist group Code Pink , who posted a video to Facebook showing the organization's founder handing out copies of the fake newspaper.

Whoever is behind the lookalike publication even created a websit e to mimic The Washington Post's real website.

The Washington Post public relations team took to Twitter to warn readers and D.C. residents about the counterfeit newspaper.

"There are fake print editions of The Washington Post being distributed around downtown DC, and we are aware of a website attempting to mimic The Post’s. They are not Post products, and we are looking into this," the statement on Twitter read.

The White House hasn't addressed the counterfeit papers.