Online posts erroneously tie Senate minority leader’s late sister-in-law to ship that hit Baltimore bridge
FILE - A container ship rests against wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as seen from Dundalk, Md. Social media users are falsely claiming that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law, who died in February, had been the CEO of the company that owns the ship. (File, AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
CLAIM: Angela Chao, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law, who died in February, had been CEO of the company that owns Dali, the container ship that crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Chao was the chair and CEO of her family’s shipping business, New York-based Foremost Group. Dali is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and managed by Synergy Marine Group, both of which are based in Singapore. Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had chartered the vessel.
THE FACTS: Social media users are falsely claiming that Chao, who died in Texas after driving into a pond on Feb. 10 while intoxicated, is connected to the collapse of the Key Bridge, suggesting that her death appears suspicious in light of the incident in Baltimore.
One X post states that Chao “was the CEO of the shipping company that owned the massive cargo ship that hit the Key Bridge & caused its collapse just 24+ hours ago.”
It continues: “She is supposedly drunk, backs her car into a pond & dies. Then a few weeks later, a massive cargo ship she used to control, rams into the Key Bridge, collapsing it & causing untold damage & death. Did this bridge collapse happen on purpose & was Angela Chao killed bc she stumbled upon the real plot?”
Chao was a shipping industry leader, but did not head the company that owns Dali.
The ship is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and managed by Synergy Marine Group, both of which are based in Singapore. It had been chartered by Maersk, the Danish shipping giant said.
Chao, however, was the head of New York-based Foremost Group, her family’s shipping business. She was also the president of her father’s philanthropic organization, The Foremost Foundation. Her eldest sibling, Elaine Chao, is married to McConnell and served as transportation secretary under President Donald Trump and labor secretary under President George W. Bush.
An investigation by the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office concluded that Chao’s death was an “unfortunate accident” and that her blood alcohol level was nearly three times the state’s legal limit.
After losing power, Dali crashed into one of Key Bridge’s pillars about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, causing the structure to break apart and crumple within seconds into the Patapsco River. Both the FBI and U.S. Attorney Erek Barron, Maryland’s top prosecutor, say there are no signs of terrorism.
Six construction workers who were filling potholes on the bridge when it collapsed are still unaccounted for and presumed dead, the AP has reported. Two people were rescued from the water on Tuesday.
The collapse is expected to create a logistical nightmare for months, if not years, in the region, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping hub. It will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic.
Opened in 1977, Key Bridge was named for the writer of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
___
This is part of the AP’s effort to address widely shared false and misleading information that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
