ABC News perpetuated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) fake propaganda when it shared photographs that appeared to show her and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) being handcuffed by police.
As viral video revealed on Tuesday, the two congresswomen were filmed holding their hands behind their backs as if they were handcuffed while being escorted by police away from a pro-abortion protest in front of the Supreme Court. At one point, AOC’s “miraculously” disappeared so she could throw up a power symbol.
Douglas Blair / The Daily Signal
Of course, nobody would know this if they were getting their information solely from ABC News, which showed AOC and Ilhan Omar from a different angle in order to feign the appearance that two congresswomen were being escorted away from a pro-abortion protest in handcuffs.
JUST IN: Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar and other House Democrats arrested in abortion rights protest at the Supreme Court. https://t.co/N5z1UTto8x pic.twitter.com/7MMJk2a7Rj
— ABC News (@ABC) July 19, 2022
ABC News made sure to mention that “no handcuffs were seen” several paragraphs into the report.
Seventeen lawmakers in total were arrested, according to Capitol Police, including Reps. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and Illinois’ Jan Schakowsky. The charge was crowding, obstructing or incommoding, police said.
Officers at the Supreme Court told the protesters that they were participating in “illegal demonstration activity” before advising anyone who didn’t want to get arrested to leave, which sparked singing and chanting from the group.
Officers then began arresting the demonstrators, though no handcuffs were seen. Police also collected IDs and took pictures of those arrested — including of some of the lawmakers — and brought water to the staging area for protesters to drink.
Needless to say, conservative Twitter did not let ABC News off the hook for its choice of photograph:
ABC can’t honestly use these photos.
AOC and Ilhan Omar are PRETENDING to be handcuffed. https://t.co/bWgegzAYZH
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 19, 2022
What a complete fucking lie with angles on these photos to make it look like they are cuffed.
And they wonder why they’re called fake news.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 19, 2022
Now show the pics from the side that show there are no handcuffs. How are you not humiliated?
— Carmine Sabia (@CarmineSabia) July 19, 2022
Fake News. They were not handcuffed. Jut led away peacefully — with them laughing and joking the whole time.
— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) July 19, 2022
You’re so fucking predictable.
— Julie Gunlock (@JGunlock) July 19, 2022
— Elisa Martinez (@elisa1121) July 19, 2022
It all started with the pretend handcuffs. Now it’s time for the media lies to kick in. No surprise @ABC is leading the pack https://t.co/nPe7fnAOIw
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) July 20, 2022
and now you know why they faked being handcuffed (everyone saw this one coming).https://t.co/9cgBZ26ea7
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) July 20, 2022
Alternate headline for @ABC: “Dishonest Pols Fake Being in Handcuffs While Mugging for the Camera.” And they had accomplices in the media in this charade. https://t.co/dhUJgRSq24
— Alberto Miguel Fernandez (@AlbertoMiguelF5) July 19, 2022
These pictures falsely suggest that @AOC and @IlhanMN were handcuffed. Is this “misinformation,” @ABC? https://t.co/FghI7vZFRb
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) July 19, 2022
Still up. https://t.co/J3nY4GK0Vg
— Larry O’Connor (@LarryOConnor) July 20, 2022
The pic choice is a deliberate editorial decision, by the same people who performatively wonder why trust in media is down. https://t.co/F27NMBXINC
— Dr S Maitra (@MrMaitra) July 19, 2022
ABC News falsely claims they were arrested and runs photos of them appearing to be handcuffed when they aren’t. Mission accomplished. https://t.co/ncVwGVPpIz
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 19, 2022
There are political stunts…then there’s pretending to get handcuffed for this exact picture https://t.co/JWy4XbAEqr
— Jesse Hunt (@JJHunt10) July 20, 2022
