Hillary Clinton has gone on the attack against a series of doctored videos of Nancy Pelosi, which were spread around the internet and promoted by Donald Trump, calling them “sexist trash.”
The videos circulated across social media this week, with footage doctored to make it appear as if Pelosi was incoherent or inebriated. A number of Trump supporters promoted the videos in appearances on Fox News, and Trump himself tweeted a link to one of the videos that had been deceptively edited.
Video experts said that the footage was obviously fake, which has prompted a considerable backlash against the videos. As Rolling Stone noted, Hillary Clinton joined in this weekend, telling an audience at a Houston political event that Trump’s promotion of the videos show how scared he is of Nancy Pelosi.
“The president and his cronies have been running around spreading a doctored video of Nancy Pelosi. Now, it is sexist trash, but it is also a sign that Trump is running scared,” Clinton said.
Clinton added that Americans need to hold their leaders accountable, saying that “we cannot relent on this front.” As Rolling Stone noted, Clinton has firsthand experience with Trump’s promotion of fake and misleading videos as a political smear. During the 2016 campaign, Trump pushed conspiracy theories claiming that Clinton was in failing health and could be dying, with campaign manager Kellyanne Conway sharing video of Clinton coughing as apparent evidence of the theory. These videos gained popularity among conspiracy theorists and right-wing pundits, culminating with Clinton collapsing from a bout with pneumonia late in the campaign.
She speaks the truth ALWAYS https://t.co/S2VMzq2Kyr
— Tom D’Angora (he/him) #mybluecheckisreal (@TomDangora) May 26, 2019
There has been much anger over the role of Facebook in allowing the spread of the fake videos targeting Nancy Pelosi. While other social media platforms deleted the videos, Facebook said it would allow them to remain on its site and add a disclaimer that the videos had been doctored. This led to a strong pushback, especially given Facebook’s involvement in allowing Russian propaganda to spread during the 2016 presidential election.
My take on Trump and his cronies spreading that doctored video of Nancy Pelosi: It’s sexist trash.
It’s also a sign that Trump is running scared. pic.twitter.com/AgcH5RQNyj
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 25, 2019
Facebook was even slow in this response, CNN noted. The manipulated video of Pelosi was posted by a group called Politics WatchDog at 1:29 p.m. on May 22, but it took more than a day before Facebook responded.
“But it wasn’t until after 9 p.m. on May 23, some 32 hours later, that Facebook began suppressing the video after a fact-check from one Facebook partner, LeadStories, was published. Facebook partner Politifact didn’t post its own fact-check until the following morning on May 24,” the report noted.
