Trump picked Lori Chavez-DeRemer as labor secretary, not Hulk Hogan | Fact check

The claim: Trump picked Hulk Hogan to be secretary of labor

A Nov. 20 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) includes an image of former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan tearing his shirt off while addressing the crowd at the Republican National Convention.

“BREAKING: Donald Trump picks ex-wrestler Hulk Hogan for Secretary of Labor and you are about to google to see if that’s true,” reads text above the image, which is a screenshot of a post on X.

The Instagram post was liked more than 25,000 times in a week. Other versions of the claim spread on Facebook and X.

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Our rating: Satire

The claim was posted by a known comedian, though many commenters took the claim as fact. The president-elect had not announced his pick for the position when the post was made, though he later selected an Oregon lawmaker for the job.

Hogan suggested he could serve in the Trump administration

The claim came after Trump announced his picks for numerous positions in his second administration, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary and former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Gaetz withdrew his nomination for the position on Nov. 21.

But Hogan’s name wasn’t in the mix.

Trump had not made the supposed announcement on his Truth Social account, where he named other nominees, nor had Hogan referenced his purported appointment on his X account. No credible media outlets reported such an appointment.

The Instagram post's reference to users looking up whether the claim was legitimate also suggests it was not meant to be taken seriously.

Further, the claim was posted by Jason Selvig, who is part of a political comedy duo called “The Good Liars.” The pair have pulled stunts at various political events, including those for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump nominated Republican Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Labor Department on Nov. 22.

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Hogan endorsed Trump and delivered a nearly nine-minute speech in support of the president-elect at the Republican National Convention in July.

Though he wasn't named labor secretary, Hogan suggested Trump could give him a position in his second administration in a Fox News interview in November, The Hill reported.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims about Trump’s appointments, including false assertions that an authentic image shows an announcement naming Tucker Carlson as White House press secretary, that Trump selected Republican Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert to serve as education secretary and that he picked former aide Kash Patel to be CIA director.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Our fact-check sources

• Donald Trump, accessed Nov. 27, Truth Social account search

• Hulk Hogan, accessed Nov. 27, X account

• Jason Selvig, accessed Nov. 27, Instagram account

• USA TODAY, Nov. 22, Trump nominates GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead Labor Department

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Claim Hulk Hogan picked as education secretary is satire | Fact check