Several mug shots photos purporting to show former United States President Donald Trump went viral on social media after his arraignment in New York at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse where he pleaded 'not guilty' to 34 felony counts.
The felony counts are connected to hush-money payments Trump allegedly made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan prosecutors accused Trump of paying two women to suppress their accounts of sexual encounters with him.
Trump surrendered on April 5, 2023, and was placed under arrest before he was arraigned and had his court appearance where he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. This is unprecedented as the former US president is the first to be criminally charged. The event was widely covered with several photos taken of Trump's arraignment till his appearance in court. Trump is reported to have returned to Florida shortly afterward.
Trump was fingerprinted as part of the booking process, but his mug shot was not taken according to The Associated Press citing two law enforcement officials who spoke to the outlet on condition of anonymity.
However, this didn't stop Trump's 2024 presidential campaign from sending out a fundraising email with a fake mug shot, offering a “NOT GUILTY” T-shirt with the fake mug shot in exchange for a $ 47 contribution.
New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman tweeted a screenshot of the official email sent out by Trump's presidential campaign with a fake Trump photo mug shot. The tweet caption read, "Trump was fingerprinted a person familiar with events said but not mugshotted. But people fundraising in his name aren’t wasting the opportunity and made their own mugshot, as this email that just landed shows".
The mug shot and photos of Trump's arraignment that aren't real
While there were actual photos of Trump's arraignment, soon some fake and AI-generated photos started circulating on social media claiming to be from the arraignment.
A Twitter user Nathalie Jacoby tweeted a fake mug shot showing Trump in a black t-shirt with the caption, "On a level from 1-10 how happy are you that Trump has been ARRESTED?"
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Another Twitter user Ryan (@scubaryan_) tweeted a fake mug shot of Trump wearing a suit.
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Another fake mug shot shows Trump in an orange jumpsuit that has been doing the rounds online.
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Trump's son Eric Trump also tweeted a fake AI-generated photo showing Trump walking on the street with a huge crowd of people behind him. This fake photo had been circulating online and shared by Trump supporters to show their support.
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Last month, Eliot Higgins, the founder of open-source investigations website Bellingcat, used the AI image generator Midjourney to generate AI photos of Trump's arrest before it could happen. Higgins shared 50 fake AI-generated images on Twitter that went viral after that. Some of these photos are again doing the rounds online now after Trump's arraignment.
Higgins later alleged that creating these AI images got him banned from Midjourney