Restoration PAC, a conservative group dedicated to the reelection of Republican Senator Ron Johnson, has had its hat handed to it for using a fake photo of President Obama with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
The photo was shown in a television ad that aired in Wisconsin. In the photo a smiling Barack Obama can be seen hand-in-hand with Hassan Rouhani. It was called into question by Buzzfeed in an article titled “Anti-Iran Deal TV Ad Uses Fake Image of Obama Meeting Iranian President.” The photo actually was originally of Obama shaking hands with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2011.
The original image:
The image distributed by Restoration PAC:
Factcheck.org asked Restoration PAC about the image in question and this is the response they got from spokesman Dan Curry:
Curry, July 23: BuzzFeed was not able to provide any proof that the photo was fake and it indeed is in circulation widely on the internet. There also are no articles claiming the image is fake. However, out of an abundance of caution, we are replacing the image with side-by-side Obama and Rouhani photos that make exactly the same point. The composition of the original image was not central to the ad’s point. The revised ad will be in circulation Friday morning.
However, the group did decide to remove the image and replace it with a different one. The new image only places the two men beside each other, but makes no attempt to imply they were actually in each other’s presence.
