A viral image circulating on social media, which appeared to show Donald Trump kissing White House aide Natalie Harp on a golf course, has been identified as a fake, a White House official told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. The image gained traction amid recent scrutiny of Trump's relationship with Harp, to whom he reportedly gave a $45,000 cash gift.
Two versions of the image were shared online, one with lower resolution and another sharper one. Fact-checking website Snopes conducted an analysis of the images and found no credible evidence to support their authenticity. The higher-resolution version displayed signs of artificial intelligence manipulation, including anomalies in the number of fingers and a watermark indicating it was created or edited using OpenAI's generative AI tools, according to Snopes.
“This is clearly a fake photo,” the White House official stated. The lower-resolution image lacked the OpenAI watermark but was too blurry to reveal clear anomalies, though deepfake detection expert Hany Farid noted that its quality and apparent depth of focus suggested it was unlikely to have been taken with a mobile device. Farid described the authenticity of the lower-resolution image as "inconclusive."
Snopes also pointed to the absence of the images being shared by legitimate news sources as further evidence casting doubt on their validity.
Trump, who has previously shared AI-generated content on his Truth Social platform, has not directly commented on the fabricated images. The circulation of the purported photograph followed a similar incident involving an AI-generated video depicting Harp smiling over Trump's shoulder, which was also determined to be fabricated.