Fact check: Photo of maskless Democratic senators is from 2018 Kavanaugh confirmation hearing

Ella Lee, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Democratic senators huddled together without masks during Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing

After two senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee tested positive for COVID-19 in early October, several Democratic lawmakers called for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing to be delayed. A viral Facebook post claims the Democratic senators spoke out for show.

"Dem Senators were very concerned about 'Rona and wanted to suspend all hearings. Apparently that faded to the background in the heat of the fight today as the Dems huddled, maskless, during today's Supreme Court Nominee hearing,” the post’s creator wrote Oct. 14.

Included in the post is a picture of three unmasked senators huddled closely together. The post’s creator did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.

Fact check: Image showing fly on Amy Coney Barrett’s shoulder during hearing posted as a joke

Photo was taken pre-pandemic

The photo was shared early Wednesday morning on Twitter with the caption “What’s missing here?” by “Angel Mom” Mary Ann Mendoza. Mendoza, whose police officer son died in a crash involving an undocumented immigrant, was slated to speak at the Republican National Convention but she was pulled from the lineup after retweeting an anti-Semitic Twitter thread with ties to the QAnon conspiracy theory.

The photo was then retweeted by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

"PBS NewsHour" reporter Lisa Desjardins flagged the tweet on her Twitter account, noting that the photo was taken in 2018, before the coronavirus pandemic.

The photo was indeed taken Sept. 4, 2018, during the September confirmation hearing of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to the Associated Press. It was shot by AP photographer J. Scott Applewhite.

In the photo are Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Cory Booker, D-N.J. The three Democratic senators confer as "as Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee appeal to Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to delay the confirmation hearing" of Kavanaugh, according to the caption.

Desjardins tweeted a similar photo from the same day by Getty Images, taken by Getty photographer Mark Wilson, as evidence the claims on Twitter about the photo were false. After she tweeted the correct timestamp for the photo, Cornyn thanked her for clarifying the matter and deleted his original tweet.

Mendoza tweeted later that her first tweet was being misinterpreted.

"Integrity was the word I was thinking," she said, quote tweeting the image. "I posted earlier The 'same BS different hearing.' And I posted that I can’t stand Booker. Now for all of you ASSuming I was making this a mask moment....congratulations."

Lawmakers have mostly kept their masks on at the hearing, though senators removed them to deliver their opening statements.

Fact check: Viral post is fake Trump quote about Amy Coney Barrett

Our rating: False

A photo showing three Democratic senators huddling together without masks was taken during Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 2018, not during Amy Coney Barrett’s hearing this week, making the claim FALSE.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Photo of maskless Democratic senators is from 2018 hearing