Several news portals published an article on May 20 claiming that the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has nominated James C. O'Brien as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, to replace Gabriel Escobar.
However, after fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it has been proven that this claim made by several portals is incorrect. This is due to the fact that Gabriel Escobar holds the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau for European and Eurasian Affairs.
Meanwhile, the position of Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs has been held by Karen Donfried, who is expected to be replaced by James C. O'Brien after the confirmation of the proposal by the US Senate.
Links to the article published on information portals such as "Top-Channel.tv", "Botasot.info" and "Albaniandailynews.com":
The Deputy Minister of Environment and Infrastructure, Avni Zogiani, posted such a claim on Facebook, with the caption: "James C. O'Brien replaces Gabriel Escobar!". (see here)
On the official website of the US Department of State, it is announced that the mandate of Karen Donfried, as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, has expired on March 31, 2023. (see here)
While Gabriel Escobar, currently holds the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. (see here)
This suggests that US President Joe Biden has nominated James C. O'Brien (here) as a replacement for Karen Donfried, not Gabriel Escobar, as claimed by the aforementioned portals.
Analyze:
Several news portals have incorrectly claimed that US President Joe Biden has proposed James C. O'Brien as Gabriel Escobar's replacement.
After verifying the facts, it has been confirmed that O'Brien is expected to replace Karen Donfried in the position of Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Escobar, based on data provided by the US Department of State website, currently holds the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info assesses this article published by the above-mentioned portals as "Unverified Content".
Reasoning:
The “Unverified” rating is given to those media reports that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which have not been able to confirm the same due to the lack or non-possession of reliable sources.