Did Illinois senator dick durbin use an AI generated picture of pretti being shot in minn on the floor of congress during a speech?
Executive summary
Yes — Senator Dick Durbin displayed on the Senate floor a widely circulated image purporting to show the fatal encounter that killed Alex Pretti, and multiple news outlets and fact-checkers report that the image he used was AI-altered [1] [2] [3]. Durbin’s office acknowledged the photo had been “slightly edited” and said staff did not realize it was not authentic, while critics seized on visual errors in the image — including a headless officer — to accuse him of spreading misinformation [1] [4] [3].
1. What happened on the Senate floor
During remarks condemning the killing of Alex Pretti, Sen. Durbin placed a blown-up image on display and described it as showing “the last second” before federal agents shot Pretti, an act he used to argue for accountability from the administration [4] [1]. Video of Durbin’s remarks circulated online after he posted about being on the Senate floor to denounce what he characterized as federal immigration officers’ actions [4] [1].
2. Why reporters and fact-checkers concluded the picture was AI-altered
Independent reporting and newsroom analysis quickly flagged clear digital distortions in the photo: among the most obvious was an officer in the image who appears to lack a head — a telltale artifact of image synthesis — and other inconsistencies that did not match verified footage from the scene, prompting outlets to label the image AI-manipulated [2] [1] [3]. Broad coverage notes that versions of the doctored image were already spreading across Instagram, Facebook, X and Threads before Durbin used it [2] [5].
3. Durbin’s office response and the chain of circulation
A Durbin spokesperson told NBC News that the senator’s office “used a photo on the Senate floor that had been widely circulated online,” and that staff didn’t realize until afterwards that it had been edited, expressing regret for the mistake [1]. Reporting indicates Durbin’s staff likely did not generate the image themselves; the same altered picture had been posted and shared on social platforms days earlier [6] [3].
4. Political reaction and the misinformation dynamics
Conservative outlets and social accounts seized on the image’s flaws as evidence Durbin and others are careless or politically motivated in their use of graphic material, framing the episode as an example of left-wing misinformation [4] [6]. Meanwhile, newsrooms warned that AI-manipulated images are complicating public understanding of real footage from the Minneapolis incident and that fake visuals can distract from verified facts — for example, that analysis of verified video showed Pretti holding a phone, not a weapon, contrary to some claims amplified alongside the altered image [2] [1].
5. What remains outside available reporting
Available sources establish that Durbin displayed a widely circulated AI-altered image and that his office later said staffers failed to notice the edit [1] [3]. Reporting does not provide definitive public evidence about who first created the manipulated image, what internal vetting process Durbin’s team used before the speech, or whether the senator personally reviewed the provenance of that specific picture prior to the remarks; those details are not covered in the provided reporting [6] [3].
6. Takeaway: intent, impact and accountability
The documented facts show a senior senator presented an inauthentic, AI-tainted image on the Senate floor, then acknowledged the mistake through his office’s statement of regret, which undercuts any claim that the image was an authoritative piece of evidence [1] [3]. At the same time, the underlying tragedy that prompted Durbin’s remarks — the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents — remains the central factual event around which this misinformation debate has unfolded, and the episode highlights how quickly synthetic media can migrate from social feeds onto the highest stages of public discourse [2] [1].