A doctored video showing former US President Barack Obama toss away a gift given by First Lady Melania Trump, is viral as a true incident. The video is from 2017, from the sitting US President Donald Trump's inauguration, and it falsely shows the then US President Barack Obama throw away a gift presented to the Obama family by Melania.
BOOM found that the viral video is doctored and Obama had in fact, given the gift to his staff in the White House before posing for a picture with the Trumps.
The viral video shows Obama taking a gift from then First Lady Michelle Obama's hand and when he is entering the White House and is not fully visible in the frame, the blue box - reported to be a Tiffany's box - is artificially shown to tossed by him towards the end of the video to give the impression that Obama deliberately threw the gift away.
The video can be seen below.
BOOM this request on its helpline (7700906111), asking if it was fake.
Using the relevant keywords, BOOM also found this video to be viral on Facebook and on Twitter.
These posts have various captions like, "Obama rejected a gift from Trump and throws it away without inviting them in"
Obama rejected a gift from Trump and throws it away without inviting them in. #BlackLivesMatter#YesIamISI#PakArmyReadyToEnd_Endia pic.twitter.com/DIDV3LJWHy
— political_chaos🤔 (@fuckin_politics) June 8, 2020
Some of the claims are in Hindi. These captions state that Trump's visit to Obama was recent, and linked it to the ongoing racial unrest in the United States.
| Hindi (Original) | English |
वर्तमान अमरीकी राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्प अपनी पत्नी के साथ पूर्व राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा और उनकी पत्नी मिशेल ओबामा से मिलने उपहार लेकर उनके निवास स्थान पर पहुंचे। मिशेल ओबामा ने ट्रम्प दंपती का स्वागत किया। ट्रम्प ने मिशेल को उपहार दिया। मिशेल ने ट्रम्प का उपहार लेकर अपने पति बराक ओबामा को दिया । बराक ने एक सेकेण्ड के झटके में उपहार को कूड़ेदान में फेंक दिया। हालिया रंगभेद हिंसा पर ट्रम्प शायद ओबामा दंपती को अपनी सफाई पेश करने गये थे। | Present US President Trump and his wife visited former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama with a gift at their residence. Michelle welcomed the Trump duo. Michelle took the gift from Trump and give it to her husband Barack. Barack, in one second, threw the gift in the dustbin. Perhaps Trump went to Obama to absolve himself of the recent racial violence |
वर्तमान अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति ट्रम्प अपनी पत्नी के साथ पूर्व अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा पत्नी मिसेल ओबामा से मिलने उपहार लेकर उनके निवास स्थान पर पहुँचे । श्रीमती मिसेल ओबामा ने ट्रम्प दम्पति का स्वागत किया । ट्रम्प ने मिसेल को उपहार दिया ।
— A Asfi (@BeHappy7475) June 9, 2020
Some of these posts are as old as January 2017 carrying much slightly longer versions of the video; the month in which Trump was inaugurated as president.
Out going US Pr. Mr. Obama throws the Gift parcel given by Mrs.Trump immediately & went inside without taking a group photo unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/X7ABgKVZWB
— चंद्रशेखर गलगले (@cgalgale) January 30, 2017
Former US President Mr. Obama throws the Gift parcel given by Mrs.Trump.#யாருக்கிட்ட😹 pic.twitter.com/vPnkF9mF16
— இரணியன் (@IamEebi) January 29, 2017
FactCheck
On examining the video closely, a CNN watermark can be seen in the bottom right corner of the viral videos.
BOOM examined CNN's coverage of Trump's inauguration as the 45th US president on January 20, 2017, and found that contrary to claims, Obama does not throw the gift once offered by Melania. Rather, he briefly goes into the White House after taking the gift from his wife, hands the gifts over through the door, and rejoins the Trumps and Michelle to pose for pictures. Later, they all go into the White House together.
The blue object being tossed, thus, has been inserted into the video artificially.
Not only CNN, but Obama can be seen going in to keep the gift through multiple reporting houses.