Republicans Just Accused Democrats Of Refusing To Stand For Fallen SEAL. Here’s What ACTUALLY Happened

A vile rumor is circulating on the internet claiming that Democrat lawmakers refused to stand in honor of fallen Navy SEAL Ryan Owens’s widow, Carryn. That would be disgusting, disrespectful behavior – if it had actually happened.

AWFUL: Top Democrats Refuse To Stand, Clap For Navy SEAL Widow Honored By Trumphttps://t.co/3w5NZebT1g pic.twitter.com/2O3b8OXSxG

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 1, 2017

The false rumor is based on a photo of Democratic Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Keith Ellison seated and looking quite bored. Allegedly the image depicts the two congresspeople responding to the extended standing ovation given to honor Carryn and Ryan Owens. In reality, the photo was taken at a different time during Donald Trump’s hour-long address to Congress.

Snopes matched the photo circulating to a moment in Fox News’s coverage of the event which occurred about half an hour before the applause for Carryn Owens. In crowd pans during the two-minute standing ovation, Ellison and Schultz were only visible from behind (the image shows them from the front) and they are clearly standing and clapping:

Similar accusations also targeted Senators Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi, both of whom are visible from the front standing clapping for the duration of the applause.

The rumor is totally false. It is a clear attempt to smear Democrats who wholeheartedly respect the sacrifices made by military families to distract attention from the fact that Trump was exploiting Carryn and her recently deceased husband.

Ryan Owens died because Trump ordered an anti-terrorism raid in Yemen without the necessary intelligence to keep our troops safe or even to uncover meaningful information. Trump obviously does not want the public to become fully aware of this. Instead of acknowledging that the Yemen mission was a tragic failure, the coward-in-chief is playing it off as a perverse symbol of national unity.

That is a reprehensible abuse of our military families. No wonder his supporters wanted to distract the public from scrutinizing Trump’s behavior by smearing innocent Democratic congresspeople.

Also…pot, meet kettle.

#JointAddress All of you idiots complaining about Democrats not clapping. Do you not remember these days? pic.twitter.com/JZ4FWex2CH

— Psychic Zorse (@tman1024) March 1, 2017

Hey GOP, remember this little show of disrespect?

Republicans NOW want us all singing Kumbaya. Didn't hear that so much back when @RepJoeWilson shouted "You Lie!" at @POTUS44 pic.twitter.com/wx6fr0cvRU

— Linda Ocasio (@UFTLindaOcasio) March 1, 2017