Image of Trump pumping fist at US press gala is AI-generated
- Published on April 30, 2026 at 21:56
- 3 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
Donald Trump defiantly raised his fist following an assassination attempt at one of his 2024 campaign events, and an image spreading online purports to show him making the same gesture as security evacuated him from a Washington press gala disrupted by gunfire outside the ballroom. But the picture is a fake generated by artificial intelligence; footage shows the US president did not hold up his arm as he was ushered off stage.
"Thank You, Lord our God, for protecting our President," says an April 26, 2026 post sharing the image on X.
Similar posts celebrating Trump ricocheted across X, Facebook and Instagram. Other posts from detractors of the Republican leader mocked him for apparently facing away from the camera, leaning into baseless conspiracy theories about the event being "staged" that spread widely online.
Trump and senior administration officials were hurried away from the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on April 25 after shots rang out from a floor above the ballroom.
The accused gunman, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of California, was charged April 27 with trying to assassinate Trump in addition to two firearms crimes. Authorities said Allen sent an email to family members shortly before trying to sprint past security, saying that "administration officials" were "targets" (archived here).
The image depicting Trump pumping his fist amid the chaos resembles photos that emerged from a July 2024 attempt on the then-candidate's life in Butler, Pennsylvania, when he held his arm up and shouted, "Fight," as US Secret Service agents guided him off the stage. As president, Trump has hung a painting of the moment in the White House.
But the visual circulating online is an AI-generated fake.
Google's SynthID detection tool indicated the file contained a SynthID, an invisible watermark the company says is attached to AI content created using its programs.
Reverse image searches in Google also returned results saying the visual was "made with Google AI," and Gemini, Google's AI tool, detected a SynthID linked to the picture.
Hive Moderation, another tool designed to detect AI imagery, similarly assessed that the image "is likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content." It identified Gemini as the source.
Footage of the Secret Service agents rushing Trump away from the dinner confirms he never raised his fist as shown in the AI-generated image (archived here and here).
The president appeared to stumble as the security surrounded him, though he later claimed in an interview with CBS News's "60 Minutes" that the agents told him to "please go down on the floor."
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is escorted out by Secret Service followed by agents surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump after an incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington, DC. According to reports, President Donald Trump, along with… pic.twitter.com/gue1l8AbxY
— Getty Images News (@GettyImagesNews) April 26, 2026
Social media has been overrun with AI-enabled misinformation since the incident, with a flood of fake images inventing biographical details and celebrity connections for Allen.
An AFP investigation found more than 50 public figures, including actor Tom Hanks and musician Taylor Swift, falsely associated with Allen via AI-generated images, in addition to posts falsely depicting Allen as a former staff member for over 40 different professional and collegiate sports teams.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the press gala shooting here, here and here.
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