Several images of former United States President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein posing together in different photographs have gone viral online.
BOOM found that even though Trump and Epstein have been photographed together previously, these particular images are not real and have been created using generative-AI.
These images are being circulated amid the unsealing of previously redacted court documents revealing new details about the lawsuit against Epstein, including the names of his former associates, including former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Trump. Jeffrey Epstein was first arrested for sexually assaulting a minor in 2005, he died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial. The high-profile even case led to the sentencing of British socialite and Epstein's former partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was accused of sex trafficking in a lawsuit filed by Virginia Guiffre, another one of Epstein's victims.
The names that are released in these newly unsealed court documents, however, do not mean that all the people named are accused of wrongdoing. The document names witnesses, victims, and even Epstein's employees who were involved in the lawsuit.
Three viral images are being circulated online, the first one of Trump and Epstein in a jet, the second of them at a party, and a third one showing Trump surrounded by underage girls.
The first photo is shared with the caption, "1 insurrection, 2 impeachments, 4 indictments, 91 criminal charges, 26+ cases of rape, Numerous times flying on Epstein's jet. Let's face it Trump is a criminal. Every Republican supported him and came in to defend him. He does not deserve to be president. #TrumpIsARapist #voteblue"
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The second caption reads, "This is Donald Trump. He’s accused of visiting an island with under aged girls. Oops."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The third caption reads, "Good morning and happy Thursday to everyone that has heard that Donald Trump HATES this photo of himself with underage girls that look just like Ivanka, so please don't share it. Retweet if you think Trump had Epstein killed. Like if you think Trump had Epstein killed."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that even though Trump and Epstein have known to be associated with each other in the past and have been photographed together as well, these particular sets of images are not real and have been created using generative-AI.
We ran a reverse image search of all the three images on Google and found that there were no verified news reports that carried the photos, only social media posts.
We then ran the images through Hive Detector, an AI-image detector tool, which estimated that the three images were 95.4%, 97.7%, and 88.3% respectively likely to be AI-generated.
Further, we also noticed some irregularities in the first two images that were consistent with the imperfections of AI-generated images. In the first photo, Trump appears to have an extra finger, and in the second photo, Epstein's legs are missing.
BOOM had previously come across another AI-generated image of Trump and Epstein purporting to show them posing together in a private plane.
AI-detection tools 'Hive' and 'Is This AI?' estimated that the image was highly likely to be AI-generated, and we did not find any credible news reports using this image. Read our complete fact-check here.
It is important to note that Trump and Epstein used to be known associates and have been photographed several times together in the past. See here and here.
