Was Senator Kelly Loeffler wearing hidden wire and earpiece? Fact Check

Claims on social media assert that Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler had been “wired” during a recent debate with Raphael Warnock, and that the wire was visible on her left side.

FALSE

As political discourse becomes increasingly polarised within the United States, we’ve seen a surge in often nonsensical conspiracy claims continually resurface on social media. One such claim is the notion that during debates, US politicians are covertly wired up and being fed answers through a hidden earpiece.

Such claims aren’t particularly new, but they began gaining traction in 2016 when baseless accusations that Hillary Clinton wore an earpiece starting proliferating on social media. By 2020, this particular brand of nonsense surged again, with countless accusations aimed at Joe Biden; accusations that claimed Biden wore both a hidden earpiece and (even more bizarrely) a microphone inside his cuff during his TV debates with Donald Trump.

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As is often the case, such outlandish claims were rooted entirely on poor resolution stills from videos that, once examined, fail basic scrutiny. (In Biden’s case, a “wire” was actually a crease in his shirt, and the “microphone” was part of a rosary bead that Biden is known for wearing.)

The claim that Senator Kelly Loeffler was also “wired up” is a continuation of these claims and a demonstration that not even Republican politicians are safe from this nonsense. Again, these claims are rooted on a poor resolution graphic that appears to show a wire coming from her left side. (See below.)

However examining the better-resolution video (stills below) reveals that this is just a strand of hair that was actually visible throughout the majority of the debate; indeed each time Loeffler turned to her left to address either her opponent Warnock or the assistant moderators, this strand of hair was clearly visible above her jacket (meaning if it were a wire, it would have nowhere to go!)

The notion that this was a clearly visible wire leading to an earpiece, and that no one noticed it, is – to say the least, somewhat fanciful.

We rank this claim as false.