Republican congressman, Paul Gosar, recently posted a tweet with a photo of former President Barack Obama shaking hands with the current Iranian president Hassan Rouhani but later admitted the image was indeed fake.
What We Know:
- Gosar has a long history of conspiracy theories and incendiary tweets. A notable example is a theory that the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville was “created by the left” and carried out by an “Obama sympathizer”.
- Various reporters noted that Obama never met Rouhani at any diplomatic functions during his eight-year presidency. Therefore, the image appearing in Gosar’s tweet with them happily shaking hands was forged. The image was actually photoshopped from Obama’s 2011 meeting with former Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
The world is a better place without these guys in power. pic.twitter.com/gDoXQu9vO5
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) January 6, 2020
- Many people were quick to reply to Gosar’s tweet letting him know the image was fake. These active users also brought to attention the fact that Rouhani is still in power. This raised the question of if he confused the Iranian president for Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general who was killed by a U.S. airstrike just this past Friday.
- Gosar defended his actions by implying he was only critiquing these political figures and not claiming the image was real.
A spokesperson for Gosar did not immediately respond on explaining his tweet ever since tensions between the U.S and Iran escalated this week.
