Nancy Pelosi, Ilhan Omar and El Chapo Conspiracy Theory

Submission 4,270

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About

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).

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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]