Fact Check: This Is NOT A Photo Of Nancy Pelosi Being Arrested By 'U.S. Marshalls' -- She's Walking To Her Office

Fact Check

  • by: Victoria Eavis
Fact Check: This Is NOT A Photo Of Nancy Pelosi Being Arrested By 'U.S. Marshalls' -- She's Walking To Her Office Not Arrested

Is this a photo of Nancy Pelosi being arrested by "U.S. Marshalls"? No, that's not true: This is a photo of Speaker Pelosi being escorted by what appear to be U.S. Capitol police as she returns to her office on January 13, 2021, the day of the latest impeachment hearings.

The claim appeared in a tweet (archived here), published on January 14, 2021, with the caption:

US Marshalls arresting Pelosi from the Congress and took her to the secret location before the DS made their nervous impeachments oj behalf of the absent Pelosi.

This is what the post looked like on Twitter at the time of writing:

Twitter screenshot

(Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Tue Jan 19 02:56:22 2021 UTC)

There is no publicly available evidence that Nancy Pelosi was arrested. If she were to be arrested in the halls of Congress, it would be a major news story. The photo in the tweet, with the tweet incorrectly spelling "marshalls" when referring to U.S. marshals, was taken on January 13, 2021, by J. Scott Applewhite for the Associated Press and can be found here. The caption that accompanies the photo says Pelosi is shown returning "to her leadership office after opening debate on the impeachment of President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021 ..."

The photo appeared in various news stories from that day, which you can see here and here, none of which reported she had been arrested.

The Twitter user then added a follow up tweet, citing an executive order as purported evidence for the arrest:

This executive order has to do with concerns about "the development and modernization of [China's] military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses" and has no reference to Pelosi or "Her crimes" other than that it is addressed to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, as executive orders are.

The badges worn by at least two of the women accompanying Pelosi in the photo appear to be similar to the badges of U.S. Capitol police. The Capitol Police tab on the U.S. House of Representatives' website reads:

Since 1828, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) has provided protection for Congress. Over time, the force has grown in numbers, duties, and responsibilities.

USCP officers work to protect life and property; prevent, detect, and investigate criminal acts; and enforce traffic regulations throughout a large complex of congressional buildings, parks, and thoroughfares. Additionally, USCP officers are responsible for protecting members and officers of Congress and their families. USCP serves throughout the U.S. and its territories and possessions.

Pelosi has made public appearances since January 13, 2021, including her weekly news conference on January 15. You can see coverage of that here.

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  Victoria Eavis

Victoria Eavis is a fact checker at Lead Stories. She recently graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology. In her last few months at Duke, she was a reporter for a student news site, The 9th Street Journal, that covers the city of Durham, North Carolina. 

Read more about or contact Victoria Eavis

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