Video of Trump 'threatening Pakistan' is manipulated

"Breaking News #Trump I support India And Erase Pakistan #IndiaPakistanWar," reads the caption of a video shared on Facebook on May 2, 2025.  

The video shows Trump speaking behind a podium, apparently saying: "I don’t want war, I want peace but if Pakistan attacks India, I will support India, erase Pakistan and warn China. I love Indian people."

The video surfaced as a stand-off between India and Pakistan over contested Kashmir continued to escalate since a deadly attack on tourists on the Indian side on April 22, which the UN says has brought the two nations to the brink of war (archived link).

New Delhi blames Islamabad for backing the attack -- the deadliest against civilians on the Indian-administered side of the Himalayan territory for years -- sparking a series of heated threats and diplomatic tit-for-tat measures.

Pakistan rejects the accusations, and the two sides have exchanged nightly gunfire since April 24 along the de facto border in Kashmir, the militarised Line of Control, according to the Indian army.

Image

Screenshot of the false post, taken on May 5, 2025

International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad, who have fought several wars over the disputed Kashmir region. US Vice President JD Vance has called on India to respond to the attack in a way "that doesn't lead to a broader regional conflict".

Meanwhile, Trump had earlier downplayed concerns over mounting tensions between India and Pakistan, saying the dispute between the nuclear-armed neighbours will get "figured out, one way or another" (archived link). 

Similar clips of Trump apparently speaking about the escalating conflict also appeared on YouTube, Facebook and X.  

But the video has been manipulated. 

A reverse image search on Google found a longer version of the video published by C-SPAN, a US public service television network that covers government proceedings, on September 15, 2016 (archived link).

"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivered remarks at the Economic Club of New York. He outlined his economic plan and was introduced by his running mate, Governor Mike Pence," says the caption. 

Trump, a presidential candidate at that time, talked about his plan to make America an economic hub and create 25 million jobs. He did not mention India or Pakistan in his speech.

Image

Screnshot comparison of the false post video (L) and the C-SPAN video

Media organisations CNBC and CNN published similar footage on September 16, 2016 (archived here and here). 

Trump's chin and neck in the video also appears and moves unnaturally in the clip, indicating manipulation with AI. Despite the meteoric progress in Generative AI, errors still show up in AI-generated content. 

The latest vocoder and lip-sync detection model developed by the University at Buffalo flagged the video as manipulated. 

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the Pahalgam attacks here, here and here. 

Image