Edited video features fabricated audio of Trump 'criticising corrupt Philippine officials'
- Published on August 1, 2025 at 09:21
- 2 min read
- By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
The video was shared on Facebook on July 15, where it was viewed 219,000 times. It features Trump speaking into a microphone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio standing behind him.
The US President appears to be saying: "Beautiful people of the Philippines, your country is being robbed by corrupt politicians. They steal your money, betray your trust and sell out your future."
The audio continues over footage of an incorrect Philippines' flag -- its red and blue fields have been inverted -- and various nature scenes, with Trump apparently urging Filipinos to "demand justice and take back your nation".
The caption reads: "Philippines robbed by corrupt politicians. - Trump."
The same video circulated elsewhere on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
Many users appeared to believe the circulating video of Trump was genuine.
"Are we not ashamed by what he said?" said one user in Tagalog.
"Our politicians are so embarrassing. They chose to be mum about what Trump just said about them," another user said.
Though Transparency International, an organisation that monitors corruption worldwide, ranked the Philippines 114 out of 180 countries on its Corruption Perception Index, Trump did not give a speech accusing Filipino officials of being corrupt (archived link).
Keyword searches on Google did not find any official reports of Trump making such comments (archived link).
Reverse image searches on Google using keyframes from the video found it corresponds to Trump's speech on June 22 announcing US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, published by AFP on YouTube (archived link).
The description states Trump announced the attacks after its ally Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign on Iran on June 13.
The altered clip has been mirrored but Rubio's head movements and Trump's expressions match the AFP video's 44-second mark. Trump in fact says: "Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror."
The circulating clip also bears signs of manipulation, such as the audio not matching with Trump's mouth movements.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
