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FACT BRIEF

Is a letter rejecting AARP membership and criticizing President Biden's 'Socialist politics' from 2021?

By Dana Ford
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NO

A letter that was written originally in 2009 during the administration of former President Barack Obama has been altered. A copy of the letter circulating online in 2021 -- asking that readers copy and share to show agreement -- has language that didn't appear in the original letter, including comments about the "Biden Regime" and "illegal perpetrators," a reference to undocumented immigrants.

The letter was written in 2009 by two former members of AARP in response to a note encouraging them to renew their lapsed membership.

In addition to being old, the version circulating on social media in 2021 alters the original letter in significant ways. Biden isn't mentioned in the original letter; he's mentioned twice in the edited version, with the phrase "Biden Regime."

But the revised version purporting to be recent is still addressed to Barry Rand, AARP CEO between 2009 and 2014. He died in 2018.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
My Oval Office 2009 Letter
AARP Barry Rand Championed Social Change in Corporate America
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.