Video of former US president Donald Trump getting slapped at a rally was digitally altered

Published on September 5, 2024 at 16:21
4 min read
By Oluseyi AWOJULUGBE, AFP Nigeria

After former US president Donald Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in July, social media users shared a video claiming to show another incident, in which the 2024 Republican candidate was slapped before his security detail could intervene. However, AFP Fact Check found that the clip was from a 2016 incident and had been digitally altered to add the physical assault. In the original footage, Trump was not slapped; agents shielded him when a nearby protester caused a commotion.

“American politics is not a joke. Trump gets a slap in public,” reads an Instagram post shared with a video on August 22, 2024.

Screenshot of the altered video, taken on September 2, 2024

Shared more than 2,000 times, the clip appears to show Trump addressing his supporters on a stage when someone suddenly appears from behind and slaps his head.

Protection officers quickly surround Trump, who was the target of an assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, when a gunman shot him in the right ear during a rally in the US state of Pennsylvania.

The verified Instagram page that posted the video has more than 202,000 followers and publishes diverse content including entertainment and politics.

The claim was also shared on X and on YouTube.

But AFP Fact Check found that the footage had been manipulated.

2016 campaign rally

Using the InVID-WeVerify tool, we extracted keyframes from the clip and conducted reverse image searches.

This led to a 52-second video posted on the official YouTube channel of CBS News in 2016 (archived here).

In the footage, Trump is seen rousing his placard-waving supporters when protection officers suddenly spring into action to prevent a protester from gaining access to the small stage in front of the ex-president's private plane.

At no point does the clip show an assailant slapping Trump on the back of his head.

Visual clues in the video include a sign on the lectern reading “Trump” in capital letters and “Dayton, Ohio”.

A Google keyword search for “Trump+Dayton+Ohio+rally” revealed Trump held rallies in the state in 2016, 2020 and 2024 – all US election years (archived here, here and here).

Videos from all three show Trump wearing a different outfit in Ohio each time. Only the suit and tie he wore in 2016 match his attire in the altered footage.

Comparison screenshots of the altered video (left) and the original from a 2016 rally, taken on September 4, 2024

The CBS News logo, which appears in the bottom-right corner of the original footage, was replaced in the altered clip with the name of a video editing program called InShot.

Screenshots showing CBSN logo in original video (left) and the altered clip with the InShot logo

AFP Fact Check extracted the audio from the altered video and ran it through Loccus.ai — an audio tool that looks for specific forensic traces left by voice generators.

The result did not indicate an alteration of the extracted audio, although the brief sound of the “slap” is not audible in the 2016 footage, suggesting it has been added for effect.

Screenshot of the Loccus.ai detection result interface, taken on September 2, 2024

However, the Mever Deepfake Video detector showed a 43% probability that the video had been altered – likely at the point where the “assailant” appears to strike Trump.

Screenshot of the Mever detection result interface, taken on September 2, 2024

Ahead of the US November 2024 election, false information has been rife on social media including a claim that US President Joe Biden authorised Trump’s assassination attempt.

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about US politics here.

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