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Who is Heather Mewshaw? Joe Biden's ASL interpreter runs pro-Trump Facebook group and wears MAGA hat in video

Some of the videos in which she featured contain vaccine misinformation, conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the Capitol riot and false claims about Michelle Obama being transgender

President Joe Biden’s new American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter has been unveiled as running a pro-Trump Facebook group sharing right-wing videos that spread false election information.

ASL interpreter Heather Mewshaw was introduced by press secretary Jen Psaki as “today’s interpreter, Heather” on Monday, January 25, as the administration announced it would be adding a sign language interpreter to its daily press briefings. Mewshaw diligently commenced her work just days after she wore a red “Make America Great Again” hat in a video posted on Facebook on Inauguration Day on January 20, 2021. Some of the videos, in which she featured, contain vaccine misinformation, conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, and false claims about Michelle Obama being transgender, according to a review of social media posts by TIME. One video on the Hands of Liberty Facebook group reportedly says: "Joe Biden is literally and legally not the President elect."

That video which featured Mewshaw signing as Trump danced to the song “YMCA” — was titled “Thank You, President Trump, From the Right Side ASL Team!” Time said. “Right Side ASL” is the name of a Facebook group that Mewshaw apparently ran before its account was deleted in November 2020. This right-wing group later resurfaced under the name “Hands of Liberty ASL", which on November 17, 2020, posted a message stating: “Sad News: Our Facebook Page, Right Side ASL Backup, has been flagged for violating community standards and will be taken down at any time. It’s up to Facebook to decide. Not us." The message, which featured a video of Mewshaw using ASL, also stated that the group was closing its accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Parler. The 41-year-old also gave translations for a video that featured Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani that’s titled “What Really Happened On January 6th?”

Jon Henner, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro who studies ASL and is hearing impaired, on Monday tweeted a photo of Mewshaw wearing a MAGA hat and Trump campaign T-shirt, adding: “Gather round folks. I have a story to tell you about the interpreter in the current White House Briefing.” Henner told Time he was “honestly surprised” to see her employed by the Biden administration.

“For me, it would be problematic for someone who has aligned herself with alt-right discourses to be the public face of the White House for the deaf communities and people who are curious about ASL,” he added.

He further tweeted: "This interpreter used to do work on Right Side ASL on Facebook. You want to find them? Can't. They aren't on Facebook anymore. But they had a site on Gab. See the picture below." He further added: "But I am wondering if this interpreter who shall be unnamed is appropriate to work for the Biden government? I personally cannot trust the integrity of her interpretation. That means I have no reason to trust what the Press Secretary says if it's coming through her hands."

According to the profile information posted on the Independent interpreters website stating that she is the child of a deaf adult and that she has been working in this field since 1999. “She is comfortable with working in an array of settings and her strengths are in settings such as Federal and state government, medical, conferences, religious services, and highly-technical assignments,” the profile adds.