Video edited to show woman telling Ron DeSantis he'll never be president | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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The claim: Video shows a woman telling Ron DeSantis he'll never be president

A June 28 Instagram video shows a man holding a microphone toward an audience member at a rally for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"I just came here to let you know that you'll never be our president," the audience member appears to say. "You're just another establishment little b----."

The crowd then starts applauding, and the video shows DeSantis saying, "Some people are actually here to see me, you know? Some people actually like me." He then asks the crowd to raise their hand if they'll be voting for him, and one woman raises her hand in response.

The post garnered more than 12,000 likes in less than two weeks. Similar versions of the claim have been shared on TikTok.

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Our rating: Altered

The video's audio is digitally edited. Neither an audience member nor DeSantis say these statements in the original footage of the rally.

Audio track edited into DeSantis video

The video footage in the post is from a June 26 rally in Eagle Pass, Texas. Original footage on C-SPAN shows a woman in the crowd asking DeSantis about fentanyl poisoning, not insulting him. The audience members sitting around her match those shown in the Instagram video, as does the background and movement of the moderator.

In response, the Florida governor talks about jail sentences he would enforce for those who sell fentanyl to children.

After he finishes speaking, another woman raises her hand to ask him about the enforcement of legal work authorization, as can be seen by footage published on YouTube by DeSantis' campaign.

At no point in the rally does he ask the audience to raise their hands if they'll vote for him. The video in the post is cropped so it doesn't show the audience member speaking or other raised hands.

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News coverage of the June 26 rally doesn't mention any heckling either.

Though DeSantis has previously been criticized at some of his rallies, there aren't any credible reports of audience members making the statements featured in the Instagram video.

USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The claim has also been debunked by Lead Stories.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Audio of woman heckling DeSantis at Texas rally is edited | Fact check