Clip of Trump targeting Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki is AI-generated
- Published on January 30, 2026 at 09:09
- 4 min read
- By Tolera FIKRU GEMTA, AFP Ethiopia
In an interview released in January 2026, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki remarked that the United States has been in decline as a global power for the past 30 years. Following the interview, a video circulated on social media purporting to show US President Donald Trump responding to Isaias and warning that he could find himself deposed like Venezuela’s former leader, Nicolás Maduro. However, the clip was created by editing a segment of a speech Trump delivered in 2022.
“Breaking and shocking news: America set to take actions against Isaias,” reads the Amharic text on a TikTok video, published on January 16, 2026.
Shared more than 2,170 times, the video was posted with an English transcript in which Trump purportedly criticises Afwerki’s leadership and suggests he could face a fate similar to Maduro, who was captured by US forces in early January (archived here).
“I have heard the remarks made by Eritrean leader Isaias Afwerki,” Trump appears to say.
“It is truly astonishing to see a leader who has subjected his own people to starvation and forced migration, effectively making them food for fish in the sea, speak so boldly against the United States,” he adds. “Such arrogance stems from a failure to realise that he could face a fate similar to that of the Venezuelan leadership.”
Trump seemingly concludes by saying, "Regardless of his rhetoric, the United States will remain vigilant and keep a close eye on him."
While some users questioned the video’s authenticity, many treated it as genuine.
“Trump, if you are able to topple Isaias, I would praise your name forever,” one user commented.
“Please make it soon. I would love to visit my country,” another wrote.
The video was also posted on Facebook with text in Afaan Oromoo that reads: “Trump confirmed in his speech that Isaias’s regime has come to an end.”
The Facebook post also contains an additional text overlay in Amharic, reading: “A leader who has subjected his people to forced migration effectively making them food for fish in the sea.”
Isaias’s remarks
In a lengthy interview with local media on January 17, 2026, Isaias argued that US influence has weakened globally in the past three decades (archived here).
“By many indicators, its economic, military, and technological supremacy has diminished,” he said, citing issues such as high national debt.
Isaias also claimed the US has failed to deliver peace, stability, and justice, and called for a more equitable global system.
However, posts claiming the clip shows Trump responding to this remarks with threats are false.
Speech from 2022
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on keyframes from the video.
Search results led to photographs and footage published by WJLA, an ABC-affiliated television station, in July 2022, when Trump returned to Washington more than a year after leaving the White House at the end of his first presidential term (archived here).
The WJLA report covered Trump’s criticism of homelessness and rising crime in the US capital, which he described as signs of national decline.
In the footage, the logo of the event organiser, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a Washington-based think tank, is visible behind Trump as he speaks.
Using this information, we searched for the full speech on YouTube, and found it published on the official channel of The Independent, a British news outlet (archived here).
A comparison of Trump’s 2022 speech and the altered video reveals similarities. In both videos, Trump is wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and a red tie, and is positioned against a grey background.
The “AFPI” logo is visible behind him in the unedited footage, but obscured in the altered video.
The original speech is more than 90 minutes long. AFP Fact Check reviewed the entire video and found that Trump makes no mention of Isaias or Eritrea.
AI-generated audio
Closer examination of the clip reveals common signs of AI-generated content: Trump has unnatural lip movements as he speaks, and his voice sounds slightly robotic, with irregular pacing in between sentences.
AFP Fact Check ran the audio from the altered clip through Hiya, an AI audio detection tool within the InVID-WeVerify verification toolkit.
The results indicated a 99 percent probability that the audio was created artificially, emphasised at the 19-second mark when the voice jumps, a common indicator of digital manipulation.
Moreover, no credible media outlet has reported Trump issuing any warning or statement regarding Isaias.
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