Now It’s a Pattern: Another Dem Shares Fake AI Image of Alex Pretti Shooting During Committee Hearing

The ranking Democratic member on the House Committee on Homeland Security shared a clearly AI-generated image meant to portray the shooting of Alex Pretti during Tuesday morning's hearing.

If it happens once, it's a coincidence. If it happens twice, it's a pattern. Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson (MS-2) has seemingly found a pattern on two fronts. 

First, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) originally shared the image on the Senate floor last month. He's simply re-spreading the disinformation. Second, Thompson, who famously chaired the Select Committee investigating a relatively mundane protest at the Capitol years ago, allowed altered evidence to be circulated during that committee's hearings.

More on that in a minute.

Thompson, at the Homeland Security Committee hearing, spoke about Pretti, who repeatedly provoked law enforcement while armed, before being fatally shot by Border Patrol agents, and said Americans watched footage of Pretti's shooting in "horror."

As he says this, a staffer holds up an image that one might assume came from said footage. It didn't. It came from nothing in the real world. It came from AI.

🚨 In a Homeland Security Committee hearing with ICE Director Todd Lyons, Rep. Bennie Thompson is using the AI generated image of Alex Pretti's death in which a Border Patrol agent doesn't have a head.

Truly unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/SByFRRPYtH

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 10, 2026

READ MORE: Wild—Dick Durbin Shares Fake AI Picture of Pretti Shooting on Senate Floor Because Nothing Matters

Report: Alex Pretti Was on Feds' Radar - Broke Rib in Clash With ICE Agents Week Before His Death

RedState readers will have a sense of deja vu upon seeing that image. Our esteemed reporter, Bonchie, initially spotted the image shared by Durbin during a speech on the Senate floor.

Durbin's office claimed ignorance, saying the image had only been "slightly edited."

“Our office used a photo on the Senate floor that had been widely circulated online," a spokesperson told NBC News. "Staff didn’t realize until after the fact that the image had been slightly edited and regret that this mistake occurred.”

Slightly edited.

One of the agents in the image is missing a head. A head! Merely a flesh wound, apparently.

Here we are weeks later, and Thompson is promoting the same image to create a particular narrative. What will his excuse be? Some intern will likely be thrown under the bus. But it’s either staff incompetence, intentional on Thompson's part, or more likely, a little bit of both.

Thompson, as he presents the fake image of the Pretti shooting, accuses DHS Secretary Kristi Noem of having "gaslit the public" and "made up a demonstrably false story" about the incident.

Pot, meet kettle.

DISINFORMATION ALERT: Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson is pushing fake AI slop at the House Homeland Security Committee.

This is not a real image of Alex Pretti. pic.twitter.com/leFQQuHfqw

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 10, 2026

Aside from the Border Patrol agent's missing head, Bonchie writes, "other elements of the picture are distorted and misshapen, leaving no doubt that it was created by AI."

Durbin and Thompson want you to believe it's real. And when it's proven otherwise, they'll just drop an 'Oopsie, we didn't know it was slightly edited.'

None of this is much of a surprise. The Select Committee that Thompson chaired successfully doctored text message evidence during their public hearings.

If Thompson has the facts on his side when presenting his case, he wouldn't have to keep relying on bogus evidence.

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