STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.
Was Nekima Levy Armstrong visibly crying in anguish in a Department of Homeland Security photo of her arrest by the FBI for her role in a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota? No, that's not true: The photo of Armstrong's arrest posted by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem showed Armstrong's face as composed and expressionless. About one half hour later, the official X account of The White House posted the same image with digital edits and no disclaimer that the image had been altered. The doctored photo makes it look like Armstrong's face was contorted in anguish, as if sobbing with her mouth open, brows furrowed, and with tears streaming down her cheeks. Asked about the alteration, the White House did not deny the alterations and Tweeted: "The memes will continue."
The altered image of Armstrong's arrest was posted (archived here) by @WhiteHouse on X at 10:54 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2026. It was captioned:
WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP.
pic.x.com/ndfqAoWLek
This is the image included with the post:
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2014365986388951194.)
The image had text captioning added which reads:
ARRESTED
FAR-LEFT AGITATOR NEKIMA LEVY ARMSTRONG FOR ORCHESTRATING CHURCH RIOTS IN MINNESOTA
The WHITE HOUSE
Just 33 minutes earlier, at 10:21 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2026 the original photo was posted by the official X account (@Sec_Noem) of the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem (archived here) with the caption:
Homeland Security Investigators and FBI agents arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong who played a key role in orchestrating the Church Riots in St. Paul, Minnesota.
She is being charged with a federal crime under 18 USC 241.
Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States - there is no first amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion.
This image posted by Noem (pictured below) has a pixelated blur added over the face of the arresting officer. The officer's body, the background and the pixelated blur are unchanged in the altered image posted by the White House. In this photo Armstrong's face could be described as expressionless.
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot from x.com/Sec_Noem/status/2014357826081071513.)
Lead Stories created a GIF using the InVID WeVerify plugin to overlay the original and the edited image for comparison purposes:
(Image Source: InVID WeVerify GIF with screenshots from x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2014365986388951194 and x.com/Sec_Noem/status/2014357826081071513.)
Lead Stories on Jan. 22, 2026 emailed the White House press office to ask if they altered the photo before posting it to X and if so, why.
White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr responded with an email that quoted a Tweet on his official White House account (archived here) that said:
YET AGAIN to the people who feel the need to reflexively defend perpetrators of heinous crimes in our country I share with you this message:
'Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue. Thank you for your attention to this matter.'
Here's what that statement looked like on X:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/Kaelan47/status/2014410500096856358.)
The account bio identified @Kaelan47 as an official White House account:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of post at x.com/Kaelan47/status/2014410500096856358.)
Updates:
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2026-01-22T20:32:49Z 2026-01-22T20:32:49Z Added White House comment about alteration of the arrest photo.
