No, the photo of Amy Klobuchar and Keith Ellison at a ‘defund the police’ event is not real

Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, represents Minnesota in the U.S. Senate. A VERIFY reader texted a photo of the senator at an event where attendees appeared to be holding up signs that said “defund the police” and asked if the image was real. 

We found the same image circulating online with hundreds of thousands of views. 

THE QUESTION

Is this photo of Amy Klobuchar at a defund the police event real?

THE SOURCES

• RevEye, a reverse image search engine
• Original photo posted by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
• Brian Evans, Attorney General Keith Ellison’s press secretary

• A spokesperson for Sen. Amy Klobuchar 

THE ANSWER

No, this photo of Sen. Amy Klobuchar at a “defund the police” event is not real. The original photo posted by Attorney General Keith Ellison was manipulated to show attendees holding the signs.

WHAT WE FOUND

A photo circulating online that appears to show Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar surrounded by people at an event holding up signs that say “defund the police” is fake. It is a photo of a real event, but it was a 2022 Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) campaign program with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. The “defund the police” signs were edited in.

Brian Evans, Attorney General Keith Ellison’s press secretary, confirmed to VERIFY that the photo was manipulated. 

Evans said “the original photo was taken at a Get Out the Vote event,” where “DFL Party candidates and elected officials met with volunteers and spoke about the importance of the 2022 midterms before those volunteers went out and knocked on doors to urge Minnesotans to vote.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Amy Klobuchar also confirmed that the image was fake, adding that “Senator Klobuchar strongly and publicly opposed the defund the police measure in Minnesota, has repeatedly made clear she opposes defunding the police, and is in fact the longtime lead author of the bipartisan bill in Congress which funds police."

VERIFY conducted a reverse image search using RevEye and found the original photo in a post from Oct. 16, 2022, posted on Ellison’s Twitter account. 

The caption on the photo said, “Minnesotans are fired up to elect DFLers up & down the ballot who will protect their personal freedoms, make sure they take home every $ they earn, protect them from corporate fraud, and protect our multiracial democracy. Let’s build a MN where everybody counts, everybody matters.” 

The images posted by Ellison do not feature any signs or references to defunding the police.

When comparing the two images, they are the exact same shot and both feature Ellison and Klobuchar. But the manipulated image features three attendees holding up signs that say “defund the police.” The signs, which appear to be identical, were edited to appear as though the attendees were holding them. 

In the manipulated photo, the signs are placed on top of the hands of attendees who either had their arms raised or in their laps in the original photo. With these hand placements, it doesn’t look like they are actually holding a sign in the fake photo.

The same “defund the police” signs have previously been edited into images with other politicians. Evans notes that many spread online leading up to the 2022 midterms.