Fact Check: NC congressman's claim about needing an ID to get a burger is mostly false

It’s time for a fact check of North Carolina politics. This week we turn our attention to a claim made by Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy, whose 3rd District covers eastern North Carolina. Murphy wrote in a tweet last month that, “The Dems demand a photo ID to get a cheeseburger but not one to vote. The height of hypocrisy.”

To assess the claim, we turned to Paul Specht of WRAL.

Marshall Terry: Paul, first, I just want to say I never thought cheeseburgers would come up in a fact check. So, you know, of course, we know that many Republicans are in favor of voter ID mandates, and many Democrats are opposed to them. But what is Murphy referring to with the part about having to show ID to get a cheeseburger?

Paul Specht: You know, I didn't think we would be ever checking a tweet or a claim about cheeseburgers, either, but here we are. Of course, just when I'm scrolling social media for what our local politicians are saying, I'm looking for the typical political rhetoric, and this definitely jumped out at me because it's not often you even see food references in tweets or Facebook posts or things like that. And so, I thought, "What in the world is he talking about?" And I wondered, you know, is there some truth to this?

And Murphy links to a story by the Gateway Pundit. Now, their founder has been banned from Twitter for posting misinformation. Well, the story his tweet links to refers to rules in Washington, D.C., that were enacted on Jan. 15, and they're enacted to obviously reduce the spread of the omicron variant, and they're targeting indoor spaces. And they do require adults who plan to eat indoors — places like restaurants, taverns. There's a whole list on their website, on the city's website — it does require them to show proof of vaccination and some form of photo ID.

Terry: So, is it true, then, that the residents of Washington, D.C., do indeed have to show ID to get a cheeseburger, as Murphy is saying?

Specht: Well, that's where it goes too far. He has a point about dining in — sure, you'll you'll need that photo ID if you're an adult. But that's not the only way to get a cheeseburger. As we all know, you can obviously go to a drive-thru, you can get delivery. The Washington, D.C., rules on their website even mention that there's an exemption for people who are doing takeout, so you could even walk in a restaurant and get your order and walk back out and not have to show ID, unless they're confirming that you are the person you say you are — but not because of these rules.

And then you could also go to the grocery store. Grocery stores are exempt from these photo ID rules, so you can go to the grocery store and get your meats and cheeses and vegetables or whatever you need to build your own burger.

Terry: So, you reached out to Murphy about this tweet. What did he say?

Specht: Yeah, we emailed his staff spokesman. I called them to make sure I had the right emails, and they never got back to us. So, we really had to just go with the tweet and then the content of the story that was linked to the tweet.

Terry: So, how did you rate this claim by Congressman Greg Murphy?

Specht: He said that "the Dems demand a photo ID" to get a cheeseburger. He's exaggerating this one. We rated it mostly false, with the kernel of truth here being that you do need a photo ID if you want to dine in at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. So, that's fair to point out, but otherwise , it's very misleading to suggest that you can't get a cheeseburger at all, and neither Murphy's tweet nor the story that he linked to mentioned these other options or the exemptions of the grocery stores or the takeout, so that's why we landed at mostly false.

Terry: Well, it's early in the morning. I'm already starting to get hungry after all this talk of cheeseburgers. Thank you, Paul.

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