“Pelosi was in (Wuhan) China 6 days after the impeachment HOAX failed.”
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill Thursday, April 30, 2020, in Washington. (AP)
The ridiculous claim that Pelosi flew to Wuhan, China, after impeachment failed
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Pelosi last visited China in November 2015, according to official records.
A social media post viewed nearly 300,000 times tries to make an absurd connection between Wuhan, China, the coronavirus, the impeachment of Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi.
"Pelosi was in Wouhan China 6 days after the impeachment HOAX failed. Has anyone bothered to find out what she was doing there?" (Yes, the Facebook post spells the city Wuhan wrong.)
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. For good reason.
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The Facebook post has no particular date for when it says the "impeachment hoax failed." The Senate voted to acquit Trump Feb. 5, two weeks after Chinese officials instituted travel bans in Wuhan. Alternate versions of the false attack on social media have stated that Pelosi was in Wuhan in November.
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Neither timeline is remotely accurate. House members file expenditure reports for all official foreign travel with the House clerk’s office. We searched reports for the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020 and found no trips by Pelosi to China. (Pelosi traveled to Jordan and Afghanistan in October, Spain in December and Luxembourg and Belgium in December. She visited Poland and Israel in January and Germany and Belgium in February.)
Pelosi’s spokesman said her last visit to China was in November 2015 when she visited Beijing. The U.S. delegation and Chinese officials discussed climate change, protection of cyberspace, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, human and women’s rights, and other topics, according to a press release from Pelosi’s office.
Other false Facebook posts have included a photo of Pelosi shaking the hand of a Chinese official. Snopes and USA Today found that the photo was from Pelosi’s visit in November 2015 when she met with Chinese politician Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
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Our ruling
A Facebook post said that Pelosi was in Wuhan, China, "6 days after the impeachment HOAX failed."
Travel records last show Pelosi in China in 2015. The rest of the post is Mad Libs for conspiracy theorists. This statement rates Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
U.S. House of Representatives Clerk, Foreign Travel reports, 2019-2020
Snopes, Did Nancy Pelosi Visit Wuhan in November 2019? April 26, 2020
USA Today, Fact check: Conspiracy theorists claim Nancy Pelosi visited Wuhan in November. She did not, April 25, 2020
Washington Post, Pelosi and congressional delegation make unannounced trip to Afghanistan in outreach to allies after Trump’s decision on Syria, Oct. 20, 2019
Reuters, U.S. House Speaker Pelosi says at climate summit: "We are still in" Dec. 2, 2019
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi, Congressional Delegation Conclude Visit to China and Tibet, Nov. 13, 2015
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi Leads Bipartisan Delegation to Belgium and Luxembourg for 75th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 13, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi Leads Bipartisan Congressional Delegation to Poland and Israel for Commemoration of 75 Years Since Liberation of Auschwitz, Jan. 20, 2020
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Pelosi Remarks at Munich Security Conference, Feb. 14, 2020
China embassy, Zhang Dejiang Meets with the Democratic Leader of House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi of the US Congress, Nov. 12, 2015
South China Morning Post, China coronavirus: as travel ban is issued for Wuhan, many in city rush to escape, Jan. 23, 2020
Email interview, Drew Hammill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spokesman, April 30, 2020
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The ridiculous claim that Pelosi flew to Wuhan, China, after impeachment failed
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