'Answer for it in Congress!' Dem lawmaker demands Kristi Noem remove 'fake' video or pay
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) made a demand to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Saturday evening that she either remove a video posted on DHS’s official social media account – which he labeled as “fake” – or “answer for it in Congress.”
On Friday, the official DHS account on X shared a video depicting several young Black men standing intimidatingly in what appears to be a park, and with a caption threatening Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. However, critics quickly labeled the video as fake after having located the original video that bore a different caption, which instead threatened Iran.
“FAFO,” reads the X post from DHS sharing the video, with “FAFO” being an acronym for “F— around and find out.” “If you threaten or lay hands on our law enforcement officers we will hunt you down and you will find out, really quick. We’ll see you cowards soon.”
Swalwell, singling out the head of DHS, issued his demand to have the video removed the following day on Saturday, labeling her as the “Queen of Photoshopping.”
“Kristi – DELETE THIS TWEET or answer for it in Congress. It’s FAKE,” Swalwell wrote in a social media post on X. “You’re the Queen of Photoshopping. This is the same smear you pulled on Kilmar Garcia. You’re destroying these kids’ lives over a doctored video. Take it down.”
The creator of the original video reportedly responded to DHS’s online post as well, who in a reply said that the original video was “literally a joke.”
“I saw the caption and I was like ‘I didn’t do that!’” the supposed creator of the original video said in a response, shared by Democratic congressional candidate Danny Glover. “I’ve still got the video saved on my drafts months ago on TikTok. Here’s the f----- part: the federal government is involved with something that I didn’t do. What?”