Is This Paul Pelosi’s Mug Shot?

A viral photograph purporting to show a bruised and disheveled Paul Pelosi is an authentic police mug shot.

Fact Check

On May 28, 2022, businessman Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Napa County, California, after he was involved in a traffic accident. Given his connection to one of the most powerful politicians in the United States, Pelosi’s arrest prompted a great deal of discussion and rumormongering on social media.

One major topic of discussion was the whereabouts of Pelosi’s arrest mug shot (which, to date, has still not been made public). One of the major rumors — a hoax, actually — was that the viral photograph below is that selfsame mug shot. As we will demonstrate shortly, it is not.

The bruised and disheveled man in the supposed mug shot does resemble Paul Pelosi, and for good reason — that man is Paul Pelosi, though this photograph of him was digitally modified to add bogus facial injuries and create the impression that it’s a real police mug shot.

In point of fact, this, from Getty Images, is the original photograph that was used to forge Pelosi’s “mug shot”:

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – FEBRUARY 14: Businessman Paul Pelosi (L) and minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) attend the 2016 Pre-GRAMMY Gala and Salute to Industry Icons honoring Irving Azoff at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 14, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Below are the two photographs, closer up and side-by-side. The first thing you’ll notice is that in addition to the apparent injuries, Pelosi’s face in the “mug shot” photo on the right is noticeably wider, indicating that it was stretched horizontally by whoever fabricated the mug shot. Also, the color is washed out:

The creator of the fake mug shot (right) stretched the original image horizontally and desaturated the color.

In the pair of photographs below, we’ve narrowed the “mug shot” at left to an aspect ratio better approximating that of the original photograph (at right) to facilitate comparison:

We’ve narrowed the aspect ratio of the “mug shot” (at left) to approximate the dimensions of the original.

The unaltered facial features are identical — compare the eyebrows, the mouth, the ears, the nose, the chin, the neck. Compare the facial shadows, as well. And notice how the outline of the orange shirt in the “mug shot” (left) appears to have been crudely drawn in after the fact.

Below is our best attempt at combining the two images to demonstrate that the “mug shot” is fake — a manipulated version of the original Getty photograph:

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Sources:

“Businessman Paul Pelosi and Minority Leader of the United States…” Getty Images, https://ift.tt/4fU7iZP. Accessed 11 June 2022.

“Driving Under the Influence (DUI) (DUI).” California DMV, https://ift.tt/Vb7A3XH. Accessed 11 June 2022.

“DUI Arrest of Pelosi’s Husband Came After California Crash.” Snopes.Com, https://ift.tt/IgbsQwB. Accessed 11 June 2022.

Is This Paul Pelosi’s Mug Shot?
Source: Kapit Pinas