Following the announcement of Paul Kagame’s win in the presidential elections on Monday, July 15, a video has been circulating, with Former US President Donald Trump purportedly congratulating the Rwandan leader for the landslide victory.
But verification by The New Times has found at least two similar videos that were posted before the elections in Rwanda, with Trump purportedly giving two different messages.
ALSO READ: Leaders congratulate President-elect Kagame on landslide victory
The video has been circulated on X (formerly Twitter), shared on WhatsApp status. The video has been shared in snippets of seven, 14 and 15 seconds.
It shows Trump wearing a black suit, a white shirt and a tie with dark blue, sky blue and white stripes. There is the American flag in the background.
In it, the purported Trump, in his voice, sends "congratulation to all Rwandans for making the best choice by electing my brother Paul Kagame.” He goes on to say that he loves the Rwandan democracy, before "sending special congrats” to his friend Gad Kwizera from Rwanda and his brothers Simeon and Jean Pierre. He adds that "Rwanda is really amazing and beautiful.”
AI-generated content
There are a number of cues that point to the video being Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated, in the form of what is known as deep fakes.
First, the name of the AI tool which was used to produce the video is displayed.
Secondly, the movement of his lips does not sync with the words.
The audio of Trump speaking about Rwandan elections and Kagame’s victory was also verified with InVID WeVerify, which indicated higher probability of its being AI-generated.
May 2017 interview
Screengrabs from the video verified with Google Reverse Image Search, showed that the image of Trump wearing a black suit, a white shirt, a tie with dark blue, sky blue and small white stripes and with the American flag in the background was takes from an exclusive interview with NBC News, which was aired on May 13, 2017, when Trump was still president.
Previous videos
During the verification process, it has been established that a similar video has been used previously, with Trump purportedly sending a different messages.
Google Reverse Image Search also showed a similar video of Trump with the same suit, shirt, tie, and background, and with the same AI tool displayed.
Posted on X on January 11, 2024, the video, which is also AI-generated, shows Trump saying he would turn Cardiff, the capital of Wales, into the world’s powerhouse of chip manufacturing and make it like Silicon Valley.
In the X post, it is said the source of the video is "unknown.”
Another video of Trump, with the same suit, white, tie and the same background, was posted on YouTube on June 22, 2024.
In it, Trump appears to be debating with US President Joe Biden, who is also the Democrat candidate for the upcoming elections in the US.
Trump and Biden appear to be confronting each other, but there are cues that the video too is AI-generated.
The movement off their lips does not sync with the words. Biden’s appearance in the video is more suspicious because his lips seem to move unnaturally.
No Trump statement on 2024 Rwanda elections
With the video having similarities with at least two videos in which Trump is shown speaking about different things, and the two videos having been published on X and YouTube in January and June, respectively, and before Rwanda's July elections, with audio verification tools indicating the voice of Trump speaking about Rwandan elections was likely AI-generated, it can be concluded that the video was fake.
The video of Donald Trump speaking about Rwandan elections in 2024 was produced with an AI tool by manipulating the image of Trump taken from his May 2017 NBC News interview.