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An outdated photo wrongly suggests Barack Obama is at a food shelter in Houston
As Tropical Storm Harvey rocks Houston, Texas, a Twitter user decried President Donald Trump’s response in comparison to former President Barack Obama’s purported on-the-ground efforts using an outdated photo.
Twitter user Aiden Benjamin (@Feisal_Hagi) posted a picture of Obama and his family serving food at a shelter, which he captioned with the hashtags #HurricaneHarvery and #prayfortexas.
"Something youll never see trump do: Obama is in texas serving meals!" he wrote in the Aug. 26, 2017 tweet.
The tweet had received over 14,000 likes and 7,500 shares as of Aug. 28, 2017.
Benjamin posted the same picture with a similar caption on Aug. 27 that read "Obama serving food in Houston shelter, somthing trump will NEVER do!"
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Here’s the thing. The picture isn’t from Houston nor from this year. It’s from a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C., where Obama and his family served Thanksgiving dinner to homeless veterans on Nov. 25, 2015. Both tweets have since been deleted.
As the following AP video shows, the president served turkey while his wife and daughters served stuffing, vegetables and cranberry sauce.
Benjamin issued an apology on Aug. 28, 2017.
"I took down the tweet of obama, I apologize to people who thought it was real. also to @callrail I apologize!"
"I took the tweet down it was wrong information sorry if you thought it was real," Benjamin wrote to PolitiFact.
He had originally issued a correction that said, "Sorry for people thinking this was in texas (he was there) but this is from 2015."
A representative for Obama told CNN the former president was not in Texas.
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Obama wrote a tweet on Aug. 27 thanking first responders and sharing a link to make donations to the Red Cross.
Trump will visit Texas on Aug. 29.
A popular tweet said President Barack Obama was serving meals in Texas as part of his response to Hurricane Harvey.
But the photo accompanying the tweet was from 2015. Obama is not in Texas, a spokesman for the former president confirmed.
We rate this statement Pants on Fire!
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Our Sources
Washington Post, First family visits D.C. shelter, highlights homeless veterans’ plight, Nov. 25, 2015
AP on Youtube, Obamas Serve Thanksgiving Meal For Homeless, Nov. 25, 2015
Aiden Benjamin, Tweet, Aug. 28, 2017
CNN, This Obama photo, doing the rounds after Harvey, is actually from 2015, Aug. 28, 2017
Twitter interview with Aiden Benjamin, Aug. 28, 2017
Barack Obama, Tweet, Aug. 27, 2017
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An outdated photo wrongly suggests Barack Obama is at a food shelter in Houston
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