Biden administration put PRESSURE on fact-checkers to change the rating on claims it was going to ban gas stoves, damning internal emails reveal

Biden administration officials put pressure on the fact-checking website Snopes to change claims that the government was going to ban gas stoves over climate change concerns.

Fox News Channel reported Thursday on internal emails unearthed in a Freedom of Information Act request by the GOP-leaning watchdog group Functional Government Initiative.

In January 2023, Snopes initially rated claims that the Biden administration was going to ban gas stoves over climate change concerns as a 'mixture' of fact and fiction. 

Richard Trumka Jr., a Biden-appointed member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, had told Bloomberg News in an interview on January 9, 2023, that a gas stove ban was 'on the table' - setting off a firestorm of criticism. 

Behind-the-scenes, CPSC communications director Pamela Rucker Springs told White House assistant press secretary Michael Kikukawa that she had approached Snopes and asked that their fact-checking assessment be changed. 

Biden administration officials put pressure on the fact-checking website Snopes to change claims that the government was going to ban gas stoves over climate change concerns

Richard Trumka Jr. (left), a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission who was appointed by President Joe Biden (right), told Bloomberg News  that a gas stove ban was 'on the table' 

But Snopes eventually rated the claim that the Biden administration was going to ban gas stoves over climate change concerns as 'false' after a top CPSC reached out and complained 

'Sent over tough letter to this writer yesterday when the initial claim was rated as "mixed,"' Springs told Kikukawa in a January 11 email, linking to Snopes' story.  

Kikukawa wrote back that the change would be 'so helpful going forward.' 

The current Snopes story, which was updated on January 11, says it's 'false' that the Biden administration wanted to ban gas stoves. 

'The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a federal agency, is not currently considering a ban on gas stoves, though a commissioner said "anything is on the table" if they can't be made safer, due to concerns over harmful indoor pollutants that cause health and respiratory problems,' the Snopes fact-check says.

Reached by Fox News Digital this week, Springs said that 'as a routine matter, whenever CPSC identifies inaccurate coverage in any media outlet, we contact that outlet to request a correction.' 

'We are glad to see accurate reports that the administration is not trying to ban gas stoves - and never has,' Kikukawa told DailyMail.com Thursday in a statement. 

The White House had to quickly respond to Trumka's comments due to Republican outrage.

Former White House doctor and Texas GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson said he'd prefer death over cooking with electric 

'The president does not support banning gas stoves and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning as stoves,' White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during her January 11 briefing. 

A number of Republicans pointed to a 2020 tweet showing Dr. Jill Biden cooking veggies over gas.  

'Rules for thee but not for me,' tweeted GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, sharing the picture of the first lady.

GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson, a former White House doctor, said he'd rather die than cook with electric.

'I'll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!' Jackson said.

Jackson even went as far to set up a URL - SaveTheStoves.com - that linked to a WinRed donation page, which asked visitors to sign a petition, but also signed them up for texts and calls from Jackson's Congressional campaign.

'We can't let the maniacs in the White House get away with this! Add your name now to the official petition to SAVE OUR STOVES!!' the website said.