{"slug": "all-the-times-trump-has-falsely-claimed-something-is-ai", "title": "All the Times Trump Has Falsely Claimed Something Is AI", "summary": "President Donald Trump claimed during a Fox News interview that images of a U.S. missile strike on an Iranian school could be AI-generated, despite no evidence supporting that claim. The strike killed at least 156 civilians, including 120 children, and independent researchers confirmed the use of a U.S. Tomahawk missile. Trump has a history of falsely dismissing evidence as AI-generated when it is unfavorable to him.", "body_md": "President Donald Trump claimed during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday that images from the bombing of an Iranian school by U.S. forces at the start of his war against Iran could have been created using artificial intelligence software.\n\n“There are images from this site that show fragments that appear to be from U.S. Tomahawk missiles. Is it possible that old intelligence or a mistake, during a very active time in the war, led to this event?” the Fox reporter asked.\n\n“It is, but it’s also possible that those images that you have are AI-generated,” Trump [replied](https://bsky.app/profile/mattgertz.bsky.social/post/3mqoteex6ws2k).\n\nBut there’s no evidence that images showing the aftermath of the strike were created by AI. Iranian state media says [168 children and 14 adults](https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/politics/us-military-intelligence-review-iran-school-strike) were killed in the strike against the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school, though some western news outlets have hedged with slightly smaller numbers. The [UN has stated](https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167063) that the casualties were “around 150” dead and “almost 100” wounded. And [independent researchers](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/us/politics/iran-school-missile-strike.html) have determined the strike was conducted using a Tomahawk cruise missile, something deployed by the U.S. and not Iran. The Pentagon hasn’t taken responsibility for the strike nor has it released figures on the number of dead, though internal investigations are supposedly [ongoing](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/21/iran-school-bombing-minab-fears-trump-hegseth-bury-truth-investigation-findings).\n\nAt least 156 civilians were killed, including 120 children, during that strike against the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school. And [independent researchers](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/us/politics/iran-school-missile-strike.html) have determined it was a Tomahawk cruise missile, something used by the U.S. and not Iran.\n\nI would loooove to know what happened during this interview cut immediately after Trump tells a Fox News interviewer that photos of “fragments that appear to be from Tomahawk missiles” at a destroyed Iranian girls school may have been “AI-generated.”\n\n— Matthew Gertz (\n\n[@mattgertz.bsky.social])[July 15, 2026 at 6:30 AM]\n\nBut this is far from the first time Trump has claimed evidence he doesn’t like to be the product of AI when it wasn’t.\n\nTrump himself has repeatedly posted various AI images and videos to his social media channels, though many aren’t intended to intentionally deceive. They’re mostly used to make Trump look more buff than he actually is or depict him dumping diarrhea on the [heads of protesters](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/20/trump-ai-video-no-kings). There are also times when he’ll post images of himself as the Pope or [Jesus Christ](https://gizmodo.com/ai-jesus-might-be-the-thing-that-finally-breaks-magas-faith-2000745701).\n\nOccasionally, he’ll post a fake AI image of a [crying protester](https://gizmodo.com/can-you-sue-the-white-house-over-an-ai-deepfake-2000714219) or an AI video about a [magic bed](https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-donald-trump-and-the-medbed-myth/a-74214282), and we’re left to wonder what the hell is going on. Those were likely instances where he was intentionally trying to deceive people, though we’ll never know for sure. Sometimes the answer is that our president is just too stupid to know what’s real, like when he insisted a photoshopped image of “MS-13” written on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s hand [was authentic](https://gizmodo.com/trump-really-believes-his-fake-ms-13-tattoo-photo-is-real-2000596365).\n\nThe most bizarre situations are arguably when he tries to get away with saying something is AI when it’s not. Trump is demonstrating something called the [Liar’s Dividend](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar%27s_dividend). AI tools are good enough now that he can call something AI and just inject doubt into the debate. And he’s done it frequently.\n\nBelow we have examples of Trump saying something is AI when it definitely was not, with the most recent first.\n\n## 1) “They put words in my mouth” (March 2026)\n\nEarlier this year, Trump claimed that the BBC created an AI-generated video depicting the president saying something he didn’t say. And while the clip was heavily edited in a way that condensed his words and was arguably still misleading, it wasn’t generated with artificial intelligence.\n\nThe video in question was part of a documentary for the BBC’s investigative journalism show “Panorama,” which airs in the UK. The episode was about Trump’s attempt at a self-coup when he directed a mob to descend on the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.\n\nDuring his speech on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”\n\nThe BBC edited [two clips together](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mx28vlp4wo) to say, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”\n\nIf you watch the entire, unedited speech, Trump absolutely did encourage the crowd to walk down to the Capitol, claiming he would go down there with them. The president didn’t wind up arriving at the Capitol, reportedly out of concerns expressed by the Secret Service. And he also kept using language that suggested he wanted to instigate something big, while being careful not to directly say he wanted anyone to break the law.\n\nThe intention was clear. But Trump went a step beyond merely saying the edited clip was misleading. He said the BBC used AI to create words he never said, something for which there is no evidence.\n\n“They put words in my mouth, and they said that I said some pretty bad things. And I didn’t say them. It was AI-generated,” Trump claimed on [March 17, 2026](https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/trump-accuses-bbc-of-using-ai-generated-clips-of-him-259472453508).\n\n## 2) “It was totally AI generated. It never took place.” (March 2026)\n\nMarch was a busy month for Trump’s claims that real things were AI. On [March 15](https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-and-exchange-with-reporters-aboard-air-force-one-en-route-joint-base-andrews-6), Trump had a gaggle with the press on Air Force One and insisted that a rally in Iran for the assassinated Supreme Leader was completely fake.\n\n“They showed about 250,000 people in a square saying how much they love Khamenei,” Trump said. “Totally AI-generated. It never took place. The media knew it didn’t take place, but they built it up like they have great support. They don’t have support.”\n\nAs Reuters [noted at the time](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/trump-accuses-iran-using-ai-spread-disinformation-2026-03-16/), there was no news outlet that claimed 250,000 people were there, though the rallies were real.\n\nTrump also claimed that a video showing a successful attack on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier by Iran was AI, and that was a case where he was actually correct. The president suggested that U.S. news outlets aired the video, and that part wasn’t accurate. Not a single major American outlet published the video, even though it was circulating widely on X.\n\nTrump said that anyone who aired it should be charged with “treason,” something he frequently says about any journalist he doesn’t like.\n\n## 3) “And I guess it was AI or something.” (October 2025)\n\nWhen Trump returned to power in 2025, he started trade wars with every other country in the world. Canada, one of America’s largest trading partners, was hit hard by tariffs, and the government of Ontario ran ads during the World Series that used former President Ronald Reagan’s words to remind Americans that Republicans used to be in favor of free trade.\n\nThe audio of Reagan, which dates to 1987, said that “over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American workers and consumer.” Trump didn’t like the ad, obviously. And he initially wrote on [Truth Social](https://bsky.app/profile/paleofuture.bsky.social/post/3m3vu3hhxos2i) that the ad was “fake,” but didn’t explicitly say it was created using AI.\n\nThat would come later when he talked with reporters:\n\nTrump: “They cheated on a commercial. Ronald Reagan loved tariffs and they said he didn’t. And I guess it was AI or something. They cheated badly. Canada got caught cheating on a commercial. Can you believe it?”\n\n— Aaron Rupar (\n\n[@atrupar.com])[October 24, 2025 at 8:41 PM]\n\nThe ad was not fake, obviously. Anyone can listen to Reagan’s speech from April 25, 1987, on [YouTube](https://youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc).\n\n## 4) “No, that’s probably AI-generated” (Sept. 2025)\n\nIn late 2025, an odd video went viral that appeared to show large objects being thrown out of a White House window. Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Trump in the Oval Office [about the video](https://gizmodo.com/trump-blames-ai-for-weird-video-of-stuff-being-tossed-out-white-house-window-2000652191), hoping to get some clarity since nobody yet knew of the president’s plans to destroy the East Wing.\n\n“There’s a video that is circulating online now of the White House, where a window is open to the residents upstairs, and somebody is throwing a big bag out the window. Have you seen this?” Doocy asked.\n\nTrump responded, “No, that’s probably AI-generated. Actually, you can’t open the windows. You know why? They’re all heavily armored and bulletproof.”\n\nDoocy asked Trump if that meant it was a “fake video.” The president replied, “It’s got to be because I know every window up there.”\n\nIt wasn’t a fake video. It was likely preparations for the [major demolition](https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-ballroom-57512e0d91432f75529946fddfbfe2c5) that wouldn’t happen until the following month, when the entire East Wing was destroyed to make room for his ballroom.\n\nLater during that press conference, Trump seemed to show his cards. Accidentally or not, Trump just admitted that if something bad ever happens, he can just say it’s an AI video.\n\n“And one of the problems we have with AI, it’s both good and bad. If something happens really bad, just blame AI,” Trump said.\n\n## 5) “She ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!” (August 2024)\n\nPresident Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July 2024, leaving Vice President Kamala Harris to scramble in an effort to beat Trump in the November elections. Trump did everything he could to tear Harris down, including when he claimed that Harris had used AI to make her crowds look bigger at a rally held in Detroit.\n\n“Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?” Trump wrote [on Truth Social](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112944255426268462). “There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane.”\n\nTrump was just parroting a conspiracy theory that started on X. Photos from the event show that there were plenty of [people at the rally](https://gizmodo.com/pathetic-old-man-claims-crowd-at-kamala-harris-rally-was-made-with-ai-2000485857). Harris eventually lost, obviously. But this was a case where it’s unclear if Trump actually believed the images were AI or if he was just repeating something stupid he heard online.\n\n## 6) “Artificial Intelligence was used by them against me in their videos of me.” (March 2024)\n\nIn March 2024, Congressional Democrats played dozens of videos showing President Trump mispronouncing words, saying nonsensical things, or just generally being confused. Democrats were trying to make the point that Trump was less mentally stable than President Joe Biden during hearings that included Robert Hur, the former special counsel who investigated Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. Hur had called Biden a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”\n\nTrump didn’t like the videos they played of him saying incredibly idiotic things in 32 different videos, so he resorted to what he often does. He called them AI.\n\n“The Hur Report was revealed today! A disaster for Biden, a two tiered standard of justice. Artificial Intelligence was used by them against me in their videos of me. Can’t do that Joe!” Trump wrote in a [post on Truth Social](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112085998901174907).\n\nAll of the clips used were real, not AI, as we [explained in 2024](https://gizmodo.com/donald-trump-ai-videos-hur-testimony-fake-debunk-1851331323). Whether it was the time Trump said that Nikki Haley was in charge of security on Jan. 6, 2021, the time he said “7/11” instead of 9/11, or the time he said they were going to “change the name of Pennsylvania,” not a single video was AI.\n\n## 7) “The perverts and losers at the failed and once disbanded Lincoln Project, and others, are using A.I.” (Dec. 2023)\n\nIn late 2023, roughly a year before the 2024 presidential election, The Lincoln Project [ran an ad](https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2023-12-29/trump-lincoln-project-ai) called “Feeble” that depicted the times Trump has looked old, frail, and weak. It included some of his greatest hits, like when he really struggled to say the word “anonymous” or appeared to have toilet paper stuck to his shoe as he ascended a staircase.\n\nAgain, Trump tried to claim that the ad depicted instances when AI was used rather than real footage.\n\n“The perverts and losers at the failed and once disbanded Lincoln Project, and others, are using A.I.(Artificial Intelligence) in their Fake television commercials in order to make me look as bad and pathetic as Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump posted [Dec. 4, 2023](https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2023-12-29/trump-lincoln-project-ai).\n\nAnd yet again, there’s no AI in the video.\n\n## Not Always AI\n\nThere have been many times when Trump has called something fake, but not necessarily claimed that it was generated using AI tools. The birthday book created for Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday is a perfect example.\n\nIn July 2025, the [Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-jeffrey-epstein-birthday-letter-we-have-certain-things-in-common-f918d796) reported on the existence of a book made for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday. Dozens of Epstein’s friends contributed letters, including President Trump, who drew a naked female form and included incredibly creepy, cryptic text.\n\nTrump’s letter concluded with, “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”\n\nTrump didn’t claim it was made with AI, but he did say, “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women. It’s not my language. It’s not my words.”\n\nTrump is suing the Wall Street Journal over the article.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/all-the-times-trump-has-falsely-claimed-something-is-ai", "canonical_source": "https://gizmodo.com/all-the-times-trump-has-falsely-claimed-something-is-ai-2000786134", "published_at": "2026-07-16 17:55:48+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-16 18:04:25.452916+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-ethics", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Donald Trump", "Fox News", "Iran", "Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school", "Tomahawk", "Pentagon", "United Nations", "Matthew Gertz"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/all-the-times-trump-has-falsely-claimed-something-is-ai", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/all-the-times-trump-has-falsely-claimed-something-is-ai.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/all-the-times-trump-has-falsely-claimed-something-is-ai.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/all-the-times-trump-has-falsely-claimed-something-is-ai.jsonld"}}