With a blow-up photo of Trump holding a photo of Abrego Garcia's hand displayed for all to see, Swalwell asked for an answer the whole world already knows.

But Noem wouldn't provide it.

"Madam Secretary, you agree that the letters "MS" and the numbers "13'' in Times Roman font, that they are doctored on this photo, right?"

"Congressman, Abrego Garcia is a known member of Ms-13 ..." Noem started, before she was cut off.

Abrego Garcia's captors in El Salvador -- where he was sent as a mistake admitted by the Trump administration -- said they have no evidence that he's a member of MS-13, a Venezuelan gang. And U.S. attorneys have made sketchy allegations in court.

Over and over, Swalwell asked the question as he pointed to the enlarged photo -- "is it doctored or not doctored?" -- and Noem ducked

"Madam Secretary, I have a 7-year-old, 6-year-old and a 3-year-old and I have a bullsh*t detector. I'm just asking you: Is it doctored or not doctored?"

As Noem deflected, accusing Abrego Garcia of being a gang member who will never be allowed to return to the United States, she then slipped up.

"Is this the entire testimony today, about a doctored photograph?" she asked.

No, but a truthful answer could kill her political career.

Trump, in one of his top WTF moments -- and there have been hundreds -- insisted during an interview with ABC News' Terry Moran that Garcia, who has been illegally detained, deported and imprisoned, has tattoos on his hand that actually read, "MS-13," a tribute to the gang and a proof that he's a member.

"On his knuckles," Trump said, "he had MS-13."

In fact, the letters and numbers had been superimposed on a digitally altered photo of Abrego-Garcia's hands, but Trump ignorantly believed they were actually on the man's hand.

Trump, in a social post, held up a photograph of Abrego Garcia, showing him with four tattoos, one on each finger. There was a leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull. Above those symbols the alphanumeric term "MS13" had been superimposed onto the photo, serving to decode the tattoos. (Some gang experts have questioned whether they are truly MS-13 symbols, according to New York Times reporting.)

Trump appeared to believe that the characters that had been typed onto the photo were, in fact, tattoos themselves. Moran tried to correct him, but Trump stiff-armed him.