GOP 'Commitment to America' platform features Russian stock footage, fake Lincoln quote

After a year of workshopping, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy unveiled the GOP's 2023 "Commitment to America" platform — featuring stock footage of Ukraine and Russia used to demonstrate the beauty of the United States and a fake Abraham Lincoln quote used in a letter to members of Congress. .

Several clips in the video meant to portray the diversity and "vibrancy" of America — including scenes of a woman shopping in a supermarket, a child running through a field, and a farmer carrying a bag of wheat — were actually stock footage filmed in Russia and Ukraine, HuffPost first reported. .

"Interesting how you guys aren't remotely interested on the issues facing the American people in the video," McCarthy spokesman Mark Bednar told HuffPost when asked about the stock footage.

Christian McWhirter, a historian at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, told The Daily Beast he could find "no reliable evidence" that Lincoln ever uttered those words.