A rumor circulating online during the U.S. presidential election in mid-August 2024 claimed the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign “kicked out” diners eating at the popular sandwich shop Primanti Bros. in Moon Township, just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to have a “staged” photo op involving “paid actors,” who the campaign allegedly transported to the establishment in white vans visible in videos shared on social media. We received reader mail asking about this matter.

In our research and correspondence with sources described throughout this article, we learned the Harris-Walz campaign or someone else reserved the restaurant for the evening of Aug. 18, 2024. Reporting published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettebefore the campaign motorcade’s arrival described the upcoming stop as a “private party.” The reporting quoted a “SWAT member” on-site who said that, following the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump in nearby Butler, Secret Service personnel locked down the site, moved all cars away …