CPAC: Screenshot mixing up black Republicans was ‘Photoshopped’

The Conservative Political Action Committee says a screenshot that appears to show a mix-up between Dr. Ben Carson and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), two prominent black Republicans, is a fake.

Washington Post reporter Ben Terris tweeted a picture Wednesday that shows the CPAC mobile website using the photo for Scott next to a biography of Dr. Ben Carson, a likely presidential candidate in 2016.

Whoops… Looks like the CPAC mobile app has confused @SenatorTimScott for @RealBenCarson pic.twitter.com/bevHJRzx0g

— Ben Terris (@bterris) February 25, 2015

Ross Hemminger, a spokesman for CPAC, told The Hill that the photo is “not a real thing” and that it is a “Photoshopped” image. He forwarded technical emails that claim that there’s distortion around the sides of the Scott picture that stems from the alteration, but did not specifically blame Terris.

Terris pushed back on the assertion in an email to The Hill.

“This morning I wanted to see what time Dr. Carson was speaking so I went to the CPAC site on my phone. I saw that his bio was accompanied by a photo of Tim Scott. So I took a screen shot of it and tweeted it out,” he said.

“I can’t claim to have any idea how or why his photo was there, but I can tell you I have literally no idea how I would even go about photoshopping that.”

He also tweeted a link to a web cache that CPAC sent him to claim it couldn’t have happened organically.

Because people are asking: I took the screenshot of Carson/Scott myself. Not claiming to know how it appeared that way this AM, but it did

— Ben Terris (@bterris) February 25, 2015

.@cpacnews sent me this cache thing to show me that it couldn’t have happened. happy to pass that along: http://t.co/JH2jGNKYIK

— Ben Terris (@bterris) February 25, 2015

When The Hill attempted to use the mobile website on Wednesday morning, Carson’s photo appeared next to the biography for Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), though it now appears to be working normally. 

Scott, for his part, jokingly tweeted back at Terris another screenshot that showed his face next to the biography for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

.@bterris you missed this one from earlier this year. #TakingOver pic.twitter.com/nif6m7GOxC

— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) February 25, 2015

CPAC is an annual conference held by the American Conservative Union just outside of Washington D.C, that typically attracts activists from around the country.

The lineup this year includes the biggest names in conservative politics and several potential 2016 hopefuls. On top of Scott, Cruz and Carson, scheduled speakers include former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), former Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) and Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.).

—This post was updated at 4:00 p.m.