#Republican senator mocks maskless Democrats—but this photo is 2 years old

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“#Republican senator mocks maskless Democrats—but this photo is 2 years old
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Cornyn called out on Twitter.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tried to mock his Democratic colleagues in a tweet for not wearing facemasks—only to later realize the photo he was sharing was from two years before the coronavirus pandemic happened.

Cornyn retweeted a post from someone that included a picture of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) close to one another. The original person asked “what’s missing in this photo?” to which Cornyn replied in his retweet: “Masks?”

The only problem? The photo of Whitehouse, Booker, and Blumenthal was from 2018, during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, long before face masks became an important tool is slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

Senator John Cornyn shares a photo criticizing Democratic Senators for not wearing masks. The photo is from 2018. Would have been pretty weird if they were wearing masks two years before the pandemic started. The modern Republican party spreads lies & disinformation routinely. pic.twitter.com/CMSKvEn1lc

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) October 14, 2020

This is far from the first time Cornyn’s tweets have backfired, and many people online were quick to point out the fact that Cornyn’s tweet made it seem like the Democratic senators were huddled together recently.

The numerous people noting that the photo was old eventually led the Texas senator to delete the mocking tweet and thanking someone for “clarifying” that the photo was years old.

🤨More misinformation, this time from Sen.John Cornyn choosing to tweet a 2-year old photo to impugn 3 Dem Senators is par for the course. Cornyn tried to show Dems hypocrisy by insisting to use “Masks”, which were not needed in 2018. Maybe doing shit like this is why he’s losing https://t.co/VOC2weXC2e

— KennZuke (@KennZuke137) October 14, 2020

⚠️Mask misinformation—TX Senator John Cornyn tweets a misleading photo about Dems not wearing masks. It was a photo from 2018. This is the kinda of disgusting mask fake info that is ruining pandemic response. C’mon @JohnCornyn—you follow my account, so show some decency. #COVID19 https://t.co/E0OM3P4XNr

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) October 14, 2020

Cornyn just retweeted a picture of Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Cory Booker (N.J.) not wearing masks in 2018

there was no pandemic in 2018

— PoliticsVideoChannel (@politvidchannel) October 14, 2020

Sen. Cornyn is spreading disinformation. This photo is old.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 14, 2020

Cornyn posts a photo of three democratic senators huddled together talking without masks and posts the comment Masks? What he failed to mention was this photo was from 2018. Does Cornyn lie about everything?#VoteBidenHarrisToEndThisNightmare

— Ptozer207 (@ptozer207) October 14, 2020

Also among the people criticizing the now-deleted tweet was MJ Hegar, a Democrat who is challenging Cornyn in the upcoming election.

That photo is from 2018. Yet again, @JohnCornyn
is tweeting blatant misinformation to play political games while thousands die in a pandemic. He doesn’t have the judgment or capability to protect Texans in this crisis. pic.twitter.com/33PZsglV5Y

— MJ Hegar (@mjhegar) October 14, 2020

Fellow senators also called out the tweet, like Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

“Hi John, this picture was taken well before the pandemic. Also, I look forward to you calling out President Trump for not wearing a mask next time,” Leahy tweeted.

Other people pointed out some of Cornyn’s old coronavirus-related tweets. In mid-March Cornyn tweeted “Be smart; don’t panic. We will get us through this #coronavirus” with a picture of a Corona beer.

That tweet landed him in hot water after he blocked a Texas voter on Twitter who had replied to the tweet and criticized it. In response to that block, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sent the senator a letter reminding him that he can’t do that.