Nancy Pelosi, Ilhan Omar and El Chapo Conspiracy Theory

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Nancy Pelosi, Ilhan Omar and El Chapo Conspiracy Theory is an unfounded allegation that U.S. congresswomen Nancy Pelosi and Ilhan Omar were conspiring with drug lord El Chapo's wife.

Origin

On July 29th, 2019, Jeffrey Peterson, who the Daily Dot ^[1] referred to as "conservative conspiracy theorist", alleged that Pelosi and Omar had met with Emma Coronel, the wife of incarcerated drug lord Chapo Guzman, also known as "El Chapo," while on a trip to Italy and Ghana, The initial tweet^[2] received more than 3,200 likes and 2,800 retweets, despite being unverified and debunked (shown below).

Jeffrey Peterson @realJeffreyP Jul 29 RUMOR--In order to get the news out quickly I am reporting it as a rumor because that is what it is at this point. There are several astounding pieces to this story. We received a tip late this afternoon that Nancy Pelosi was spotted dining with a former Mexican elected official 204 3.2K t 2.8K Jeffrey Peterson@realJeffreyP Jul 29 this past weekend at the Ristorante Antica Sacrestia in Venice, Italy while on travel using an apparent cover story about a "Ghana/U.S. Army" trip The report is from a reliable source who is also in disbelief at the news. The news is extraordinary 11 t 790 1.4K Jeffrey Peterson! @realJeffreyP because it appears that Emma Coronel, wife of the recently convicted drug kingpin, Chapo Guzman, posted selfies in Venice on the exact same date and then deleted the selfies a few hours afterwards. Here is a link to an article: El Chapo's wife vacations in Italy while he rots in hellish jail The former director of the super-maximum security prison where Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán is now spending the second week of a life sentence says the dailymail.co.uk 8:38 PM Jul 29, 2019 Twitter Web App

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The Daily Dot^[1] disproved Peterson's allegations, stating that there is no proof for his theory. They wrote, "the story falls apart under the slightest scrutiny. There’s no link to any actual reporting, except for one Daily Mail piece about Coronel having taken and deleted "selfies":v in Venice on July 27. There’s no evidence she met with Pelosi, nor that Pelosi met with a 'Mexican official,' whom Peterson doesn’t name, only linking to a picture of Pelosi walking with Pena Nieto to allude that it’s them in Venice when it’s actually a picture from 2016."^[3]

The conspiracy theory uses several pieces of information and disinformation to build its case. First, Peterson shared a photograph of Pelosi, Omar and other congresspeople sharing dinner the Harry Cipriani restaurant in Venice, which became the subject of criticism by various conservative outlets and commentators (shown below, left and center).

Additionally, Peterson shared a photograph of Pelosi with US Congressman Henry Cuellar (shown below, right). The photograph had been used as part of a meme that mistook Cuellar for El Chapo.^[3]