False posts share fabricated Trump quote, old speech after ex-Philippine leader's arrest
- Published on March 14, 2025 at 04:32
- 4 min read
- By Ara Eugenio, AFP Philippines
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"Thank you so much Mr President Donald Trump for your help," reads part of the caption to a graphic shared on Facebook on March 12, 2025.
Purportedly created by the Washington Post newspaper, the graphic appears to show Trump's response to Duterte's arrest in Manila a day earlier (archived link).
The 79-year-old faces a charge of "the crime against humanity of murder", according to the ICC, for a crackdown rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.
According to the graphic, the US president spoke to China's Xi Jinping about the "serious matter concerning our good friend Rodrigo".
"We will stand behind him. We will protect Rodrigo and the Filipino people from the oppression you are facing," reads Trump's supposed response.. "I, and the United States will not allow any of our allies and friends to suffer, and we will impose sanctions against the Marcos Administration for the unlawful act they did."
The same purported graphic was shared on Facebook and TikTok.
A similar claim was shared in a separate TikTok video that was viewed more than 480,000 times after it was posted on March 12.
The video, featuring a clip of Trump criticising the ICC, is captioned, "Donald Trump's reaction to the arrest of former president Duterte".
"The ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority. The ICC claims near-universal jurisdiction over the citizens of every country," Trump says in the clip.
The high-profile Duterte case comes while the ICC is under sanctions by Trump -- a long-time critic of the UN-backed court -- after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The clip was also shared on YouTube.
"Wow this is what we've been waiting for. President Trump, you are our hope," read a comment on one of the posts.
Another said: "Thank you President Donald for helping."
As of March 14, there have been no official reports of Trump -- who once described his relationship with his then-Philippine counterpart as "very good" during a 2017 visit to the Southeast Asian country -- speaking in support of Duterte or commenting on the ICC proceedings (archived link).
Falsified graphic
A Washington Post spokesperson told AFP on March 12 that the graphic circulating online is a "falsified image" not published by the newspaper.
AFP also found no record of the graphic on the newspaper's official social media pages after Duterte's arrest.
A comparison of the fabricated graphic and a recent Instagram post by the newspaper featuring a genuine Trump quote show clear differences in style and formatting (archived link).
Old UN address
A reverse image search on Google found the clip of Trump criticising the ICC was published on YouTube by American broadcaster CNBC on September 26, 2018 (archived link).
Its caption read: "At the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump speaks about the United States' relationship with the United Nations Human Rights Council and other global associations."
In the speech, Trump denounced the UN-backed court as illegitimate, claiming it violated "all principles of justice, fairness, and due process", but made no mention of Duterte (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to Duterte's arrest here.
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