Left-leaning social media users have been amplifying a fake, AI-generated audio clip that falsely purports to show President Donald Trump screaming at US officials to block the release of documents related to the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The fake audio, featuring a synthetic voice resembling the President, includes the alarming quote: “Not releasing the Epstein files… If I go down, I will bring all of you down with me.” The clip was circulated on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, racking up millions of views and thousands of comments as social media posts falsely claimed it showed the president berating his cabinet.
Confirmation of Disinformation
Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard confirmed that the audio is “an AI-generated fake.”
- Source: News Guard determined that the clip, which apparently originated with a liberal TikTok user, came from a video that showed signs of being generated with Sora, OpenAI’s text-to-video model.
- Obscuring Origins: The clip was then shared in multiple subsequent videos that lacked Sora’s identifiable watermarks, thereby “obscuring its AI origins” from casual viewers.
False Claims About White House Press Secretary
In addition to the AI audio, liberal social media users have also spread another false claim surrounding the Epstein files:
- Posts on platforms like X, which amassed millions of views, wrongly quoted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as saying that recently released Epstein emails do not refer to the President. The false quote claimed: “It is not President Trump who is in the Epstein emails. It is another person with the same name.”
- In reality, Leavitt had previously stated that the released emails “prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong” and argued the Democrats were using the emails to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
- A White House account responded directly to one post on X insisting Leavitt had made the fabricated remark, stating plainly: “No … she didn’t. You are a weapons grade moron.”
This widespread circulation of falsehoods underscores the significant challenge in navigating a hyperpolarized information landscape, where both sides of the political aisle can amplify disinformation, making it harder for ordinary users to distinguish fact from fiction on increasingly unmoderated social media sites.
Trump’s Official Stance and Past Ties
Despite months of initial resistance, President Trump signed into law a bill that requires his administration to release government documents on Epstein. Trump has consistently maintained that he has “nothing to do” with his one-time close friend Epstein, insisting he cut ties with him years ago.
Insiders, however, warn that even with the President’s signature on the bill, the administration could still lean on redactions, procedural delays, or lingering federal investigations to keep some explosive details out of the public eye.