The Twitter account of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) seems to have gotten him in trouble yet again.
In a Monday afternoon tweet, Gosar — who is known for letting loose on the platform and was reported by TPM to follow a few white nationalists — posted an edited photo of former President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, which appears to be photoshopped from when Obama met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gosar’s tweet comes in the wake of the backlash surrounding President Trump’s decision to authorize the strike that killed top Iranian military official Qasem Soleimani.
It also came minutes after the Washington Post’s Mustafa Salim posted a copy of a letter from Marine Corps Brig. Gen. William Seely to the Iraqi joint operations task force, announcing what appeared to be a complete pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq. The Pentagon would later clarify that although the letter declaring a withdrawal was real, it was actually a draft that never should have been released publicly and was “an honest mistake.”
The world is a better place without these guys in power. pic.twitter.com/gDoXQu9vO5
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) January 6, 2020
Former Obama administration officials and media figures were quick to call out the edited photo in Gosar’s tweet and demanded that he delete it.
A few things:
1. @RepGosar is a moron.
2. The picture be tweeted is a fake.
3. There would have been nothing wrong with Obama meeting with Rouhani.
4. Mainstream Republicans are totally fine with this type of disinformation and hope you share it in outrage— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) January 6, 2020
It's disgusting that a U.S. representative would disseminate misinformation like this.
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) January 6, 2020
Reprentative dentist is sharing a fake photo. https://t.co/Pdnv8I0Ozi
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) January 6, 2020
This is a photoshopped picture. Delete this.
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) January 6, 2020
You’re spreading a photoshopped picture, congressman.
Delete this post. https://t.co/plmR3SpO26 https://t.co/p518IqEhqx
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) January 6, 2020
Minutes after his initial tweet, Gosar defended himself by arguing that “no one said this wasn’t photoshopped” and that the point is that “Obama coddled, appeased, nurtured and protected the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror.”
2. The point remains to all but the dimmest: Obama coddled, appeased, nurtured and protected the worlds No. 1 sponsor of terror. The world is better without Obama as president. The world will be better off without Rouhani.
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) January 6, 2020
