Post falsely claims doctored video shows Kenya’s ex-deputy leader attending Trump inauguration

Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th US president on January 20, 2025. A video shared on TikTok claims to show Kenya’s former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua arriving in Washington for the inauguration ceremony. But the video is altered; the clip combines unrelated videos, images and AI-generated audio to give the impression Gachagua was in the US. Contrary to the claim, Gachagua was meeting with local leaders at his residence in Nyeri county in central Kenya on the day Trump took his oath of office.

“High security marks Gachagua arrival in Washington for Trump inauguration,” reads a text overlay on a TikTok video shared on January 21, 2025.

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Screenshot of the altered post, taken on January 22, 2025

The clip starts with Laura Ingraham, the host of the The Ingraham Angle on Fox News, introducing herself and the show.

Six seconds after the video starts, a chyron appears at the bottom of the screen that reads: “Gachagua Attends Trump Inauguration.”

Ingraham’s voice also changes and for the rest of the clip, as she speaks, the audio is out of sync with her lip movements.

“The former president of Kenya has just landed at Washington Dallas international airport ahead of Donald Trump’s highly anticipated presidential inauguration. His arrival has been marked by an anticipated level of security underscoring the significance of his visit,” says a voice that mimics Ingrahm’s.

The audio adds that Gachagua was escorted away in a heavily guarded convoy by US service agents, local law enforcement, and diplomatic security personnel, and that his attendance is proof of his global influence and a show of strengthening ties between Kenya and the US.

The clip includes images of Gachagua, who was impeached and removed as Kenya’s deputy president in October 2024 (archived here).

There is also a CapCut logo in the top-left corner of the clip, an indication the video editing app was likely used to make the video.

Trump’s inauguration

Trump was sworn in for a second term as US president on January 20, 2025, in Washington, before unveiling a slew of executive orders (archived here and here).

In attendance were tech billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, and former US presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W Bush (archived here).

The event reportedly marked the first time in US history a president-elect welcomed foreign leaders to witness the transfer of power (archived here). They included Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Gachagua, however, was not among them.

Edited video

AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on screengrabs from the TikTok clip to find the original footage.

We found the altered video was based on a broadcast of The Ingraham Angle show aired by Fox News on January 17, 2025 (archived here).

Host Laura Ingraham also shared a clip of the broadcast on her X account (archived here).

“MAGA TAKES OVER WASHINGTON,” reads the original chyron from the broadcast, which was changed to “Gachagua Attends Trump Inauguration” in the false TikTok video.

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Screenshots comparing the altered video (left) and the original footage published by Ingraham

At no point in the original footage is Gachagua mentioned or featured. Instead, Ingraham talks about preparations for Trump’s inauguration and about Biden’s presidency.

Further image searches revealed that two pictures of Gachagua unrelated to Trump’s inauguration were inserted into the broadcast in an effort to make the claim seem authentic.

In the first image, which appears 19 seconds after the start of the altered clip, Gachagua is seen stepping out of a vehicle.

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Screenshot from the altered clip, taken on January 22, 2025

The image was published by The Star Kenya and shows Gachagua arriving at Moi Stadium in Kenya's Embu County for the 60th Madaraka Day celebrations on June 1, 2023 (archived here).

The second image of Gachagua in the TikTok clip appears a few seconds later and shows him sitting inside a vehicle.

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Screenshot from the altered clip, taken on January 22, 2025

The image was used as a file picture by Citizen Digital in an article published on December 16, 2024 (archived here).

According to the caption, the original was taken by Reuters and shows Gachagua arriving at the parliament buildings in Nairobi to address legislators ahead of a vote over his impeachment motion on October 8, 2024.

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Screenshot of the article published by Citizen Digital, taken on January 22, 2025

AFP Fact Check found the picture in the Reuters archive here.

Finally, the altered clip ends with footage of a motorcade at night.

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Screenshot from the altered clip, taken on January 22, 2025

The footage comes from August 25, 2023, and shows Trump arriving in Newark, New Jersey, en route to Georgia to turn himself in at the Fulton County jail on charges stemming from the 2020 Georgia election indictment (archived here).

AFP Fact Check also ran the TikTok clip’s audio through InVID-WeVerify's audio detection tool, and the results suggested strong evidence of voice cloning starting from the five-second mark. 

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A screenshot of InVID-WeVerify's voice cloning detector results, taken on January 24, 2025

Furthermore, no African leader was invited to the event. Trump also made no mention of Africa in his speech (archived here and here).

On the day of Trump's inauguration, Gachagua was meeting with Maa leaders from Kajiado and Narok counties at his residence in Nyeri county, in central Kenya (archived here).

The former Kenyan deputy president was ousted following a fallout with President William Ruto, whose government has become unpopular among Kenyans (archived here and here).

Gachagua has no known ties with Trump that might have prompted an invitation. 

Meanwhile, Ruto affirmed that Kenya-US relations remain strong following Trump’s return to the White House (archived here).