President Donald Trump said a viral video showing items tossed from an upstairs White House window was created with artificial intelligence, even as earlier comments from his team appeared to acknowledge it as real.
Trump disputes video, cites sealed windows
According to WMUR/Associated Press, Trump told reporters the clip has “got to be fake” because White House windows are heavy, sealed, and bulletproof. He said, “I know every window up there,” and recounted that First Lady Melania Trump wanted fresh air but couldn’t open a window, adding that each window “weighs about 600 pounds.”
The video, which circulated Monday, appears to show a small black bag and a long white item thrown from a window on the building’s east side. Trump blamed AI for the footage, calling the creation of fake videos a downside of the technology. “If something happens that’s really bad, maybe I’ll have to just blame AI,” he said. After viewing the clip on Fox News reporter Peter Doocy’s phone, Trump repeated that the windows are sealed and again attributed the video to AI.
Earlier White House comment and expert review
Hours before Trump’s remarks, the White House seemed to verify the video to several outlets, saying it depicted “a contractor who was doing regular maintenance while the President was gone,” WMUR/AP reported. The White House did not respond later Tuesday about the discrepancy.
Forensics perspective on the footage
Hany Farid, a digital forensics and misinformation expert at the University of California, Berkeley, reviewed the video and said he did not detect digital watermarks sometimes inserted at the point of AI generation. He noted that the scene’s shadows, including that of the tossed bag, appear physically consistent; the motion of the waving flags lacks tell-tale AI artifacts; and the White House structure, including the flying of the American and POW/MIA flags, appears consistent.
Separately, the report notes that former First Lady Michelle Obama, in a 2015 appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” remarked that White House windows do not open as she discussed looking forward to car rides with open windows after leaving.
The Associated Press said Melissa Goldin contributed reporting from New York.
