Old video falsely claimed to show Trump crying about indictment
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on June 21, 2023 at 18:20
- 2 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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"Crying because he got caught," says text over June 9, 2023 TikTok video sharing the clip.
Similar posts generated thousands of views on TikTok, Twitter and YouTube shortly after Trump was indicted June 8 for allegedly mishandling US government secrets and scheming to prevent their return from his residence in the state of Florida. The former president later pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts.
In the video shared online, a red-faced Trump says: "Not just extreme carelessness with classified material, which is still totally disqualifying. This is calculated, deliberate, premeditated misconduct, followed by a cover-up that included false statements and lies to Congress, the media and the American people."
But the footage is nearly seven years old. The original, unedited version shows Trump talking about then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who drew criticism for using a private email server to handle official communications while secretary of state.
The video stems from a campaign speech Trump gave July 11, 2016 (archived here), when he was running for president.
"Hillary Clinton went to great lengths to create a private email server and to bypass government security in order to keep her emails from being read by the public and by federal officials," Trump said. "What she did was so wrong. What other people did, far less, and they're paying a tremendous price right now."
Trump followed up with his comments about Clinton's "extreme carelessness" and "misconduct."
Trump is not crying in the footage. The video shared online appears to have been distorted, as his face and eyes are redder than in the original.
AFP reached out to Trump's 2024 campaign for comment, but no response was forthcoming.
AFP has previously fact-checked other misinformation about Trump's classified documents case here and here.
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