Sarah Sanders' fake Syria 'war room' photo backfires spectacularly

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders desperately wanted to have a dramatic photo of the war room when the decision was made to bomb Syria. Unfortunately for her, no such photo exists — but Sanders wasn’t about to let a little detail like that get in the way.

And so on Saturday night, Sanders tweeted out an “official” photo of the Situation Room, writing, “Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it. (Inside the Situation Room as President is briefed on Syria – Official WH photos by Shealah Craighead).”

Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it. (Inside the Situation Room as President is briefed on Syria – Official WH photos by Shealah Craighead) pic.twitter.com/GzOSejdqQh

— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) April 15, 2018

There’s only one problem with the photo: Mike Pence, who is pictured in the Situation Room to the right of Trump, was not in the White House Friday night. He wasn’t even in the United States — he was in Peru for the Summit of the Americas.

Pence even posted a picture of his arrival in Peru on Friday:

Landed in Peru & honored to be at the @SummitAmericas on behalf of @POTUS & the American people. Just completed an important meeting w/ Venezuelan opposition leaders as we look to hold the undemocratic Maduro regime accountable for its actions. #SummitPeru pic.twitter.com/x3bpUTf3jT

— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) April 13, 2018

Sanders was apparently hoping that we would be too distracted by the drama of a black-and-white image to actually look at the photo.

Sanders was sorely mistaken.

Not long after she posted the tweet, savvy Twitter users started pointing out the discrepancy and then proceeded to drag her for the misleading photo.

https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status/985373423177224192

Pence is in Peru. Sounds like fake news to me. https://t.co/9f3qUllVlv

— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) April 15, 2018

Fun fact: This picture is NOT from last night as Mike Pence is mysteriously in the room while also out of the country.

There is NOTHING @PressSec won't lie about. https://t.co/k2YBVBFdHv

— Alex – Singer (@AlexCSinger16) April 15, 2018

NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell recognized the shirt Sanders is wearing the photo as the same one she wore on Wednesday — suggesting that the photo was actually taken two full days before the decision to strike Syria was announced.

Friday night @VP was off to Peru. @nikkihaley was in NY for UN. @PressSec appeared to be wearing this striped blouse at Wednesday's briefing so this behind the scenes photo in Situation Room likely not taken "last night" as tweet suggests but earlier in week https://t.co/RckDaLvOsF

— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) April 15, 2018

Despite being called out for the photo and dragged all over Twitter, the tweet was still up twelve hours later — a point that one Twitter user made this morning.

The worst part isn't that this picture isn't what Sanders says it is, the worst part is that it is still up 12 HOURS LATER despite literally tens of thousands of people telling her that https://t.co/nJ4yvKVrpu

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) April 15, 2018

Ten minutes later, Sanders posted an addendum to her original tweet:

As I said, the President put our adversaries on notice that he enforces red lines with the strike on Syria Friday night. The photo was taken Thursday in the Situation Room during Syria briefing.

— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) April 15, 2018

As Sanders learned the hard way, when you lie all the time, you lose the privilege of getting the benefit of the doubt.

Sanders gets up behind the White House podium and lies to the American public on a near daily basis — and the American public clearly doesn’t trust a word that comes out of her mouth. Nor do they trust a single tweet that comes from her fingertips, and for good reason.