False: There was a human trafficking operation run through the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, DC.

Context

A video shared on Facebook shows known QAnon conspiracy theorist Timothy Charles Holmseth claiming he was imprisoned by the Deep State after he uncovered a worldwide human trafficking operation run through the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, DC. In the video, he also claims that U.S. Marines rescued 2100 kidnapped children from underground bunkers and bases in California. The video has over 20,000 views on Facebook.

In Fact

There is no evidence to support Holmseth's claim of a human trafficking operation run through the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, DC, and no official or credible reports suggest this occurred.

 The first mention of this claim appears to originate in a video uploaded to Bitchute by Holmseth in 2020, and the video description linked to Holmseth's website. This predates the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, more recent articles and videos from 2022 on Holmseth's website have spread further conspiracies surrounding the conflict in Ukraine. For example, one post claims that thousands of missing American children are being rescued in Ukraine by Putin. However, there is no evidence of thousands of missing American children in Ukraine.

Logically contacted the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington DC for comment but have not received a response at the time of publication.

Holmseth also claims to be the only reporter for the Pentagon Pedophile Taskforce and alleges to have sources inside the Pentagon. In the video, he claims there was an operation in California where U.S. marines rescued 2100 stolen children from underground bunkers. Other content on his website makes similar claims about other alleged operations that have occurred. However, a U.S. Defense Department spokesperson told The Daily Beast in 2020 that there is no such thing as a Pentagon Pedophile Taskforce. The Daily Beast also reported that Holmseth made previous claims that tens of thousands of abused children were rescued from underground prisons below New York, however, none of the children or their parents have ever actually appeared or spoken to the news. There is no evidence that these operations are occurring, and the claims, like Holmseth's other claims, are baseless. Furthermore, Holmseth uses these claims to suggest that Child Protection Services are responsible for kidnapping children for Deep State child trafficking and sexual abuse cults. An article from The Daily Beast describes how another of Holmseth's videos urged his fans to shoot child protective service workers who came to their homes.

Holmseth is a large spreader of the QAnon conspiracies, and his website contains various QAnon conspiratorial content. The conspiracy is unfounded and holds the belief that an evil satanic Deep State controls the world and that celebrities and politicians are involved in a secret global child trafficking operation. According to a 2021 BBC article, the QAnon conspiracy theory began in 2017 following a series of anonymous posts on the website 4Chan by a user called "Q," who claimed to have high-level U.S. security clearance. QAnon is considered dangerous and has been tied to at least two murders, a high-profile suicide, and several incidents that were de-escalated by authorities. 

Logically has covered QAnon extensively and found no evidence to support claims made by the conspiracy. These articles and fact-checks are available through the fact-checking library. 

The Verdict

There is no evidence that the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, DC, was part of a human trafficking operation. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.