False: Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Ted Wheeler after demonstrations in Portland.

By: Shashi M
January 18 2021

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Nancy Pelosi did not send a letter to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.A fake image went viral on social media claiming that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, directing him to use the “proven Democratic Playbook” in response to the protests in the Portland city. Drew Hammill, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, confirmed to PolitiFact that the letter is fake. According to the PolitiFact report, the letter asks Wheeler to “stick to the proven Democratic Playbook and recorded five steps for Wheeler to take in response to the protests in Portland. The five steps proposed in the letter are: to deny any problem, to show support for anyone breaking the law, to blame President Donald J. Trump when an order cannot be kept, to go on television to condemn Trump and refuse any assistance." Wheeler's spokesperson confirmed that the mayor has not received "any correspondence from Speaker Pelosi during recent demonstrations." The letter was riddled with punctuation, and grammatical mistakes. The word used in the letter was very distinct from other letters sent by Pelosi. Moreover, it does not appear on Pelosi’s website, where all her statements, official letters, and speeches are listed on her website "https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/press-releases."