Marjorie Taylor Greene posts doctored beer photo of Lindsey Graham

Greene posted the picture without caption to Facebook, Twitter and other platforms on April 16, 2023, after Graham criticized her for defending the man charged for leaking a trove of sensitive US national security documents in an online chat room.

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Screenshot from Facebook taken April 17, 2023

Similar posts circulated elsewhere online.

The image appears to show Graham smiling alongside CNN anchor and chief political correspondent Dana Bash as he holds a Bud Light beer can featuring Dylan Mulvaney, an American actress, social media personality and transgender rights advocate known for chronicling her gender transition in videos posted to TikTok.

Mulvaney and Anheuser-Busch drew the ire of US conservatives after the influencer featured the company's Bud Light beer in a promotional Instagram post on April 1. In the video, Mulvaney promoted a $15,000 giveaway the company sponsored during an annual collegiate basketball tournament and showcased a Bud Light can with her face on it, which she said was sent as a gift to celebrate her "day 365 of womanhood."

But Graham was not pictured holding the same can. Kevin Bishop, his communications director, told AFP in an email the version shared by Greene is "Photoshopped."

Reverse image searches revealed the original photo -- taken by Jason Bahr for Getty Images and CNN on October 27, 2015 -- shows Graham holding a glass of beer at a brewery in Boulder, Colorado.

The photo was captured during a CNN "Politics on Tap" event one day before a Republican presidential primary debate. The network shared the image on Twitter the following day.

In a statement to US media, Anheuser-Busch said that it works with hundreds of influencers to connect with different audiences, and that the can featuring Mulvaney's image is not available to the general public.

“This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public," the statement said.

AFP contacted the company for additional comment, but no response was forthcoming.

'Irresponsible'

The image shared by Greene followed Graham's criticism of her comments on Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old air national guardsman charged in the US document leak.

In an April 13 tweet, the Republican congresswoman from Georgia said: "Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more. Ask yourself who is the real enemy? A young low level national guardsmen? Or the administration that is waging war in Ukraine, a non-NATO nation, against nuclear Russia without war powers?"

Graham addressed the tweet days later on ABC's "This Week," calling it "one of the most irresponsible statements you could make."

"There is no justification for this, and for any member of Congress to suggest it's OK to leak classified information because you agree with the cause is terribly irresponsible and puts America in serious danger."

AFP reached out to a Greene spokesperson, but no response was forthcoming.

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about Anheuser-Busch's partnership with Mulvaney here.