{"id":555577,"date":"2021-06-07T14:50:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T18:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=555577"},"modified":"2021-06-07T14:50:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T18:50:28","slug":"fact-check-did-james-mattis-say-people-who-burn-the-american-flag-will-spend-two-years-in-the-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-james-mattis-say-people-who-burn-the-american-flag-will-spend-two-years-in-the-military\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did James Mattis Say People Who Burn The American Flag Will \u2018Spend Two Years In The Military\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-did-james-mattis-say-people-who-burn-the-american-flag-will-spend-two-years-in-the-military%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=555577&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-881232406-scaled-e1622841646312.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>An image <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jeffrey.hood.583\/posts\/326321505749558\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on Facebook<\/a> claims former Defense Secretary James Mattis said, \u201cIf you burn the American flag you\u2019ll spend two years in the military.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><span>Verdict: False<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is no record of Mattis saying this quote.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>A post on Facebook claims Mattis, who <a href=\"https:\/\/history.defense.gov\/Multimedia\/Biographies\/Article-View\/Article\/1059855\/james-n-mattis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">served<\/a> as Defense Secretary under former President Donald Trump from January 2017 to December 2018, said: \u201cForget Jail: If you burn the American flag, you\u2019ll spend two years in the military. I promise you, you\u2019ll be cured of the desire to burn a flag ever again. You\u2019ll be wavin\u2019 it; saluting it; or, \u2026 you\u2019ll be lying under it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is, however, no record of Mattis making such a statement. Check Your Fact searched the Defense Department\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/Newsroom\/releases\/?Search=you%27ll+spend+two+years+in+the+military\">press releases<\/a> and verified <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%22you%27ll%20spend%20two%20years%20in%20the%20military%22%20(from%3ADeptofDefense)&#038;src=typed_query&#038;f=live\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter account<\/a>, but found no instances of the remark. Nor did the quote appear on the Defense Department\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/page\/114648515718\/search\/?q=%22you%27ll%20spend%20two%20years%20in%20the%20military%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mattis does not appear to have any public social media accounts where he could have shared the comment, either. Had Mattis actually made the statement attributed to him in the Facebook post, media outlets likely would have reported on it, yet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=%22Forget+Jail%3A+If+you+burn+the+American+flag%2C+you%27ll+spend+two+years+in+the+military.+I+promise+you%2C+you%27ll+be+cured+of+the+desire+to+burn+a+flag+ever+again.+You%27ll+be+wavin%27+it%3B+saluting+it%3B+or%2C+...+you%27ll+be+lying+under+it.%22+James+MAttis&#038;ei=xVa-YOTEF9vi5NoPtpGGuAM&#038;oq=%22Forget+Jail%3A+If+you+burn+the+American+flag%2C+you%27ll+spend+two+years+in+the+military.+I+promise+you%2C+you%27ll+be+cured+of+the+desire+to+burn+a+flag+ever+again.+You%27ll+be+wavin%27+it%3B+saluting+it%3B+or%2C+...+you%27ll+be+lying+under+it.%22+James+MAttis&#038;gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EANQ3osBWM2sAWDerwFoA3AAeACAAecBiAGhApIBBTEuMC4xmAEDoAEBoAECqgEHZ3dzLXdpesABAQ&#038;sclient=gws-wiz&#038;ved=0ahUKEwiku5W8hYbxAhVbMVkFHbaIATcQ4dUDCA4&#038;uact=5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">none<\/a> have.<\/p>\n<p>Supreme Court rulings have deemed the burning of the American flag legal under the First Amendment, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/law-protects-flag-burning-united-states\/story?id=43855624\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ABC News<\/a>. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2021\/04\/29\/fact-check-underwater-flag-pearl-harbor-replaced\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Does This Image Show An Underwater American Flag At Pearl Harbor Being Replaced?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Iterations of the statement attributed to Mattis have been circulating online since at least December 2016, when media outlet The Federalist Papers Project <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20170402075252\/https:\/\/thefederalistpapers.org\/us\/why-flag-burners-should-be-very-afraid-of-general-james-mattis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared<\/a> the same image of Mattis with text reading, \u201cForget jail burn a flag and you have to serve 2 years in the military. I promise you\u2019ll be cured of a desire to burn a flag under this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The quote appears to reference a November 2016 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetrumparchive.com\/?searchbox=%22consequences+-+perhaps+loss+of+citizenship+or+year+in+jail%22\">tweet<\/a> from Trump where he argued people who burn the flag should face consequences such as \u201closs of citizenship or year in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An image shared on Facebook claims former Defense Secretary James Mattis said, \u201cIf you burn the American flag you\u2019ll spend two years in the military.\u201dVerdict: False There is no record &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2279478,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-881232406-scaled-e1622841646312.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"FACT CHECK: Did James Mattis Say People Who Burn The American Flag Will \u2018Spend Two Years In The Military\u2019?","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-881232406-scaled-e1622841646312.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"FACT CHECK: Did James Mattis Say People Who Burn The American Flag Will \u2018Spend Two Years In The Military\u2019?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2279478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}