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Viral image
Viral image
stated on January 27, 2020 in a Facebook post:

A photo shows Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi posing and smiling in front of a Trump 2020 sign.

Pants on Fire!
By Samantha Putterman
February 29, 2020

Pelosi didn’t pose and smile for a photo in front of a Trump 2020 sign

If your time is short

  • This is a digitally altered image. The sign is not in the original version.

See the sources for this fact-check

Did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is known to feud with President Donald Trump, really pose – and smile – in front of a Trump 2020 sign?

Nope. 

An altered version of a real photo of Pelosi and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Ca., with the sign added behind the congresswomen, is going around social media.

Text near the top of the manipulated photo says, “This is so funny. Keep it posted on Facebook and other social media. And along the bottom, “Please, please keep this picture going!!”

The image was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

A reverse-image search led us to the original photo, which doesn’t include the sign, and was shared by Waters in a tweet on Feb. 17, 2018: 

Pelosi and Waters were wearing red as part of the American Heart Association’s “Go Red For Women” movement, which aims to increase women’s heart health awareness and end heart disease and stroke in women.

This photo is doctored. We rate it Pants on Fire! 

Our Sources

Facebook post, Jan. 27, 2020

Tin Eye, reverse-image search, Feb. 26, 2020

Twitter, Maxine Waters tweet, Feb. 17, 2018

American Heart Association News, Women in Congress wear red to support women’s heart health, Feb. 15, 2018

 

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