Ride the Lightning

Trump’s Concession Video was NOT a Deepfake

January 13, 2021

Reuters reported on January 11 that "social media users have been sharing a post that claims a video in which outgoing president Donald Trump acknowledges President-elect Biden's victory in the wake of the chaos of the Capitol protests has been confirmed to be a deepfake. Despite speculation, this has not been confirmed by any credible source and the White House told Reuters the video is not a deepfake."

The post shows a video of Trump in which he can be heard saying, "The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay […] Now congress has certified the results, a new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th , my focus now turns to ensuring a smooth orderly and seamless transition of power."

The video then zooms into Trump's neck and a voice can be heard saying that the video is blurred out around the neckline, the background is fake and the flag is not real. The voice says, "That's not real. Look at this. That's not real guys. Something's wrong with this video. This is a deep fake." The caption on the post says, "BREAKING: Donald J. Trump Video CONFIRMED 'Deep Fake' – TRUST THE PLAN".

The video of Trump was released on January 7, the day after the assault on the Capitol. No credible source has confirmed the video, which was officially released by the White House and tweeted by Trump's own account, to be a deepfake.

Giorgio Patrini, CEO of visual threat intelligence company Sensity, told Reuters: "We ran several filters and video analyses and we were not able to find any conclusive evidence of manipulation."

As Reuters notes, the way Trump speaks when he is reading a teleprompter is different than when he is not. Other instances of Trump reading from a teleprompter sound much the same.

The verdict of Reuters Fact Check Team? The social media claims of the video being a deepfake are false.

From my foxhole, this is simply an attempt to manipulate the base of Trump supporters. And I find the words "TRUST THE PLAN" to be very disturbing.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225|Fairfax, VA 22030
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Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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