Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani shares doctored video making Nancy Pelosi appear drunk and then accuses the Democrats of DISHONESTY
- An altered video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi circulated on social media Wednesday and Thursday and garnered almost 2 million views
- Facebook and Twitter have come under fire for allowing the disinformation campaign to live on its sites
- According to an analysis, the video was slowed to about 75 per cent of its normal speed to make Pelosi's speech appear slurred
- Several commenters accused the California Democrat of being drunk
- Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani shared the clip, tweeting 'What is wrong with Nancy Pelosi? Her speech pattern is bizarre'
- His tweet was deleted 15 minutes later. Two hours after that he tweeted a message that began: 'How do the Dems get away with their dishonesty?'
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani shared a faked video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which had been slowed down to make her words slurred and sounding as if she is drunk.
The original video was from Pelosi's remarks on Wednesday at the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference, where she spoke about President Donald Trump walking out of an infrastructure meeting with Democrats earlier that day.
But an altered version was posted by the conservative Politics WatchDog - a conservative group on Facebook - which was slowed down to make her speech appeared slurred.
That version has been viewed more than 1.8 million times, shared more than 39,000 times, and has more than 20,000 comments.
Giuliani later shared the altered clip on Twitter, writing: 'What is wrong with Nancy Pelosi? Her speech pattern is bizarre'.
But he deleted the tweet after 15 minutes as users pointed out that it had been doctored.
Two hours later, the lawyer tweeted a message about the Mueller report that began: 'How do the Dems get away with their dishonesty?'
Giuliani shared the faked video with his 316,000 Twitter followers
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the target of a misinformation campaign when a video of her speaking on-stage Wednesday was altered to make it appear she was slurring her words
Facebook and Twitter came under fire when the video was able to reach almost 2 million views
He wrote: 'How do the Dems get away with their dishonesty? Nadler opposed Clinton report being public, but wants Mueller report more public than 98%. Now doesn’t want public to know if fellow Dems illegally spied on a Pres. candidate and a President. Americans deserve to know.'
A Washington Post analysis found the video he shared had been slowed to about 75 percent of its original speed.
It also appears that the sound of her voice was changed so the slow in speech would not make her pitch appear to deep.
During the edited remarks, Pelosi said Trump was engaging in a 'coverup' by refusing to cooperate with congressional investigations.
It also shows ways voters could be influenced in the 2020 election and how rapidly disinformation can spread.
Facebook and Twitter have come under fire for letting almost two million users see the faked video.
'Omg is she drunk or having a stroke???,' one user wrote.
Several other commenters described her as 'drunk.'
Giuliani's now-deleted tweet came minutes after Trump himself posted a mashup video of times when Pelosi had stumbled over her words during the speech, tweeting: “PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE”.
In her remarks at the Center for American Progress Ideas Conference, Pelosi said Trump was engaging in a ‘coverup’ by refusing to cooperate with multiple congressional investigations
On Wednesday, Trump walked out of an infrastructure meeting at the White House with Pelosi and House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, he then spoke to reporters that were already gathered in the Rose Garden
The altered video comes as the executive branch and legislative branch locked horns this week when a planned White House meeting on infrastructure disintegrated into chaos.
Trump walked out of a scheduled meeting on infrastructure with House Democrats on Wednesday and joined reporters in the Rose Garden, where they were moved even before House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Pelosi sat down with the president.
'I don't do cover-ups,' Trump said, speaking in front of a podium emblazoned 'No collusion, no obstruction.'
Pelosi and Schumer accused Trump of having a 'temper tantrum' like a 'baby' during the meeting and in walking out of it.
Trump has argued against this, claiming he was calm and that Democrats are trying to hurt his 2020 chances with baseless attacks.
'I would say calm as I was at the news conference,' Trump said of his behavior.
'Their whole focus is on 2020 and trying to demean the Republican Party and demean the president of the United States as much as possible so either that we get his poll numbers down to the point he can't win,' Trump told reporters, 'or they want to try to get him out of office anyway we can.'
YouTube removed another altered video of Pelosi, citing a violation of its 'community guidelines.'
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Earlier this month, another conservative YouTube channel posted a video that also slowed Pelosi's speech, making her words sound notably slurred.
The House speaker has been the target of such videos on a few occasions, and those running the channels claim her 'fumbling' speech is a result of her being drunk or claims she is 'pretty sick.'
Minor video manipulations have become an obstacle in the spread of disinformation. In November, a video circulated of CNN reporter Jim Acosta holding on to a microphone while a White House intern tried to take if from her hands.
A version of the video went viral that was altered to make the exchange appear more dramatic, and even White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders shared it on her social media.
