Will Hurd calls dissemination of doctored Pelosi videos "concerning"
Republican Texas Rep. Will Hurd expressed concern about the dissemination of videos shared by President Trump and conservative activists that were doctored and manipulated to portray House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as slurring her speech.
"There's a lot of things that's concerning with that video of Speaker Pelosi and it was just slowed down to make it seem like she was having a hard time speaking," Hurd said on "Face the Nation" Sunday.
"This wasn't even a deep fake," he said, referring to a type of video that's been digitally altered to replace an individual's face or voice.
As part of an intensifying feud with Pelosi and her caucus, the president shared on Friday a Fox Business segment that spliced several parts of a speech by the speaker in rapid succession, emphasizing only the moments when she stumbled on her words and one instance when she referenced "three things" but held up two fingers.
Other doctored videos of the Democratic leader, who has been resisting calls from some in her party to initiate an impeachment inquiry against Mr. Trump, were shared by the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and other conservatives. Their dissemination quickly caused an uproar among Democrats, who accused its purveyors of misogyny and urged social media giants to take them down.
With specifically naming the president or anyone in his circle, Hurd said no one should disseminate information they know to be doctored. He said the government, news media and academia need to join forces to curtail the rise of misinformation in today's digital age.
"We can't be promoting this stuff and if you can't tell the difference between a doctored piece of information and not, that's troubling as well," he said.
Richard Escobedo contributed reporting.
