Did Sanders tell Trump his supporters deserved to see honest politician?

A screenshot of an apparent tweet sent by Democratic presidential nominee Bernie Sanders retorting a jibe made by Trump is spreading online. The tweet – apparently from the Bernie Sanders Twitter account – claims Trump protesters “deserve to see what a real honest politician looks like.”

The screenshot can be seen below.

Text –

@realDonaldTrump –
Bernie Sanders is lying when he says his disruptors aren’t told to go to my events. Be careful Bernie, or my supporters will go to yours!
@berniesanders –
@realDonaldTrump Send them. They deserve to see what a real honest politician sounds like.

Despite the prolific circulation of the screenshot, largely down to a small number of popular Facebook pages, the tweet is not real.

While the original tweet made by Trump is genuine (and can be seen here) the apparent retort by Bernie Sanders is not. It is likely down to digital manipulation.

This is evident by a number of tell-tale signs. Most noticeably, the blue verification symbol is noticeably larger next to Bernie Sanders’ name when compared to the tick next to Trump’s name. Sanders’ name is also written in a larger font and the spacing between the username and Twitter handle appears suspiciously large. Additionally the date formats between the two tweets are different.

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It is likely that the manipulation used a genuine tweet as its source material, but tweeted by someone else and later having Bernie Sander’s username super-imposed over the top. It could have possibly been inspired by the below similar tweet which uses the same profile picture.

@realDonaldTrump Send them. They deserve to see what an honest politician sounds like.

— Millennials 4 Bernie (@Bernlennials) March 13, 2016

Ultimately this was just the work of hoaxers and it should not be circulated as genuine.