Fake News: Pelosi Did NOT Describe Democrat Wrap Up Smear Tactic In Video

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Pelosi Did NOT Describe Democrat Wrap Up Smear Tactic In Video

Did Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi describe one of the tactics used by the Democrats during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings as the "wrap up smear tactic"? No, that's not true: the video actually dates from last year and it shows Pelosi discussing what she calls a tactic used by Republicans.

An example of this claim can be seen in this YouTube video published on October 7, 2018 titled "Pelosi and the WRAP UP SMEAR tactic" (archived here) which had following description:

Pelosi gives us a page from the Democrat playbook. Lie, smear, smear, and lie some more. LINK REFERRED TO IN VIDEO: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4674689/wrap-smear

The link in the video description goes to this real CSPAN page:

The wrap-up smear?

Is she talking about what the Democrats are doing to Trump concerning Russia?

But that is just a user-generated clip of this full video from 2017:

Minority Leader Pelosi 'Very Confident' of Support in Her Caucus

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi says she's very confident of the support she has in her caucus. She also says that while she respects the opinions of her colleagues, the decision about how long...

The relevant part starts around the 26 minute mark at and the full quote as transcribed on the CSPAN site is this:

BECAUSE BASICALLY AT THE END OF THE DAY THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN, THEIR REPRESENTATIVE AND WHAT THEIR REPRESENTATIVE IS GOING TO DO FOR THEIR DISTRICT. REPUBLICANS ARE AFRAID OF THAT CONTRAST IN A RACE. BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING TO GO THERE TO BE INVOLVED IN TRICKLED DOWN ECONOMICS, SHUTTING DOWN HOSPITALS AND REST OF IT. SO THEY DON'T WANT THEM TO SEE THAT CONTRAST SO THEY FOCUS ON SOMETHING ELSE. AND IT'S A DIVERSIONARY TACTIC. IT'S A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHET. YOU DEMONIZE -- WE CALL IT THE WRAP-UP SMEAR. YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT POLITICS. IT'S A WRAP-UP SMEAR. YOU SMEAR SOMEBODY WITH FALSEHOODED AND THEN YOU MERCHANDISE IT AND THEN YOU WRITE IT AND NELL' SAY, SEE, IT'S REPORTED IN THE PRESS THAT THIS, THIS AND THIS SO THEY HAVE THAT VALIDATION THAT THE PRESS REPORTED THE SMEAR AND THEN IT'S CALLED A WRAP-UP SMEAR. NOW I AM GOING TO MERCHANDISE THE PRESS' REPORT ON THE SMEAR THAT WE MADE. IT'S A TACTIC.

From the context it is quite clear she is discussing a tactic she says is being used by her Republican opponents and not (as some on social media have described it) the playbook of the Democrats.

Want to inform others about the accuracy of this story?

See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:


  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk

About Us

International Fact-Checking Organization Meta Third-Party Fact Checker

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

Lead Stories is a:


@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Most Read

Most Recent

Share your opinion