CLAIM: Leaked text messages obtained by CNN showed that Virginia Thomas and Mark Meadows corresponded about Venmo payments and “coup buses” amid the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. While CNN has published real texts between the pair, this exchange circulating online was invented for a satirical piece published by The New Yorker, and is being misrepresented as a genuine communication between Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Meadows, former White House chief of staff. A CNN spokesperson confirmed the news outlet didn’t “leak” messages detailing this exact exchange, and no such text messages have been publicly released by the U.S. House committee investigating Jan. 6.

THE FACTS: As the Jan. 6 panel announced Thursday that it has sent a letter requesting an interview with Thomas, who is known as Ginni, social media users confused a satirical article imagining a text exchange between the two with real messages that were previously published by CNN.

While Thomas, a conservative activist, did communicate with people in President Donald Trump’s orbit ahead of and on the day that hundreds of Trump’s supporters violently stormed the Capitol, the supposed text messages referencing payment for so-called “coup buses” were taken from a parody piece in Thursday’s edition of The New Yorker. The fake exchange was published under the magazine’s “Daily Shouts” section, which it describes as “The New Yorker’s regular dose of humor, satire, and funny observations.”

It was made to look like Thomas asked Meadows, “Please tell POTUS that the flood of hellfire destined for the wicked will cleanse his presence and restore his righteous power,” to which Meadows replied, “I agree. Sending.”

The invented exchange also included Thomas saying, “Also Venmo request me for the coup buses BTW,” and Meadows replying, “What’s the e-mail?” to which Thomas sent “[email protected].”

Some social media users copied and pasted just the text of the satirical article, failing to point out where it originated or clarify that it did not show an authentic exchange.

“CNN leaked some more texts. Ginni Thomas texted Mark Meadows,” one Twitter user wrote, sharing a snippet of The New Yorker piece on Thursday, adding, “You cannot tell me Clarence didn’t know what was going on!!”

The post gained more than 10,000 shares and 20,000 likes, including replies and comments that indicated many people took the text exchange as real.

“CNN just released an email from Ginni Thomas to Mark Meadows in which she used the term ‘coup buses,’” another post falsely stated.

Some of the posts conflated the satirical texts with real exchanges that news outlets obtained this spring. CNN documented a trove of more than 2,300 text messages that Meadows sent and received between Election Day 2020 and the inauguration, including some with Thomas. The satirical New Yorker article mentioned this CNN release, adding to the confusion online.

Emily Kuhn, senior director of communications at CNN Digital Worldwide, confirmed to The Associated press that the misrepresented satirical messages are being incorrectly attributed to CNN. She said the messages were not part of CNN’s April report about Meadows’ texts.

“CNN did not publish the satire texts in The New Yorker piece,” Kuhn wrote in an email. “The text messages in their story and on social are their satirical writing.”