By Katherine Tinsley
9:04am PDT, May 1, 2025
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Things became awkward between Donald Trump and Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran, as the former referenced a digitally altered image to defend his unjust deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
"He had MS13 tattooed on his knuckles," Trump alleged in his interview with ABC News, which aired on Tuesday, April 29.
"He had some tattoos that are interpreted that way," Moran clarified.
"It says MS13," Trump replied, but Moran explained, "That was photoshopped."
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Will Chamberlain, the senior counsel with the Article III Project, defended Donald Trump on X.
"Terry Moran attempts a totally obnoxious midwit journalist tactic that we've all seen before: the 'fact check and topic change,'" Chamberlain wrote on Tuesday, April 29.
"Instead of just asking Trump to clarify what he means, he instead simply asserts that what Trump is saying is wrong and then tries to talk about something else entirely," he added.
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"It's exactly what Margaret Brennan tried to do with J.D. Vance in the VP debate, and it was just as stupid then," Will Chamberlain continued.
"(If you'll remember, J.D. was cooking her so badly that she had to mute his mic)," he claimed. "It's intellectually dishonest and arrogant move, and more than anything else exemplifies why people can't stand MSM journalists."
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The picture Donald Trump referenced was of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's hand, and someone added letters to
the images, claiming the symbols were used as a code for MS-13. However, it has yet to be proven if Garcia is a gang member — and he has yet to receive due process.
"The picture Trump is referring to does have the characters 'MS13' superimposed onto his knuckles, but it was done to signify what the tattoos represent," Media Lies explained.
"It's unclear if Trump's team notified him that the actual letters were added to show what the symbols stood for," the account added.
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After seeing Media Lies' explanation, critics rushed to journalist Terry Moran's defense.
"No, it is very clear from this clip: Trump literally believes something that isn't true, because he fell for a cheap Photoshop image he saw online," one user replied.
"Not sickening. Scary. Why are MAGA folk attacking Terry Moran? He was right," another stated.
"It's Photoshopped! Moran was more polite despite the president insulting him and blaming him for being wrong," they continued. "Who doesn't think that Trump should apologize?"
