Conservatives have called for a trucker boycott in New York after Judge Arthur Engoron said Donald Trump must pay $354.9 million, after finding him liable for business fraud.
The New York City judge, who oversaw the trial, ruled on Friday that the former president must pay the huge figure in penalties. New York Attorney General Letitia James had brought a suit that said Trump and his two adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, The Trump Organization and two firm executives, Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney, fraudulently overstated the value of assets to deceive lenders. Trump has maintained his innocence.
With the likes of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones joining in on the call, social media users shared content said to depict the boycott's impact in action, with a photo of empty supermarket shelves allegedly taken at a grocery store in New York.
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @Freight_Bandit, on February 21, 2024, viewed 1.2 million times, stated: "I'm at a Whole Foods in Brooklyn," alongside a photo of empty shelves.
Conspiracy theorist Stew Peters reposted the claim, writing: "Looks like the truckers are following through with their threat to stop all deliveries to NYC."
The Facts
This photo is not of a grocery shortage caused by the New York trucker boycott.
As was noted by users on X, the photo was taken in January 2022, amid grocery shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The photo was used in an article by CNN which examined the supply chain impact caused by the spread of the virus' omicron variant.
As Newsweek reported in 2022, the rapid spread of omicron caused huge numbers of workers in the food industry to quarantine, with a shortage of working truckers at the time exacerbating the issue.
One grocery distributor said the number of cases reported among staff had tripled.
There appears to be no other evidence, as of the time of publication, that the New York food industry is facing supply shortages over the proposed boycott.
The call to support the boycott has been dismissed by some online, who have rubbished notions that it may gain widespread appeal.
In a video on TikTok, social media user and trucker bluecollar_trucker shared how the trucker strike against New York is "not happening" over Trump's case, adding that no one has talked to him about it.
"This trucker strike, nobody's talked to me about it and I know a lot of other guys on other platforms like, 'Yeah, no, we've never talked about it either.' So one it's not happening, there's no strike against New York City—not over the Trump case, but more and more people are refusing to go because of other issues."
Some who initially responded in support have since backed down. One early voice on X, Chicago Ray, who echoed Trump's claims that his business fraud case was politically motivated election interference, deleted a post inciting others to join.
In a follow-up, now deleted, post they went on to say "Just to be clear. I'm no figurehead of any movement."
"I'm not leading, nor have I encouraged, or am I encouraging anyone to do anything other than what they were doing prior to the ruling on Friday in New York City."
Chicago Ray said his decision to delete the post was not because anyone "got to" him, stressing his continued support of Trump and for truckers making their own decisions.
The photo of empty shelves is not the only misleading content that has been shared about the boycott.
One viral post on X shared on Monday alleged that musicians Kid Rock and Jason Aldean had canceled their New York dates from a You Can't Cancel America tour, in solidarity with the boycott.
As Newsweek found there was no evidence that Kid Rock and Aldean had ever collaborated on such a tour and that the claim had come from a website that states its articles are satirical.
The Ruling
False.
The photo of empty supermarket shelves in New York is not a result of the proposed trucker boycott in support of Donald Trump.
The picture was taken in January 2022, amid food supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
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