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Trump baselessly charges Harris Michigan rally crowd ‘didn’t exist,’ was generated with AI

Former President Donald Trump took to social media on Sunday to falsely claim that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign faked photos of the crowd at her Detroit-area rally last week using artificial intelligence.

The Republican presidential nominee claimed the crowd at the airport hangar “DIDN’T EXIST” and that “nobody was there” in multiple posts to his Truth Social platform, sharing a post from a right-wing former congressional candidate known for spreading misinformation.

What You Need To Know

• Former President Donald Trump took to social media on Sunday to falsely claim that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign faked photos of the crowd at her Detroit-area rally last week using artificial intelligence
• The Republican presidential nominee claimed the crowd at the airport hangar “DIDN’T EXIST” and that “nobody was there” in multiple posts to his Truth Social platform, sharing a post from a right-wing former congressional candidate known for spreading misinformation
• The crowd did in fact exist and the rally was attended by thousands of people, many of whom posted their own pictures and videos of the event, which was also live streamed by dozens of news channels and attended by a slew of prominent politicians
• While some AI-generated photos and videos have been circulated in right-wing corners of social media, it appears the photo Trump posted was in fact real, though it’s possible it was digitally edited
• The crowd did in fact exist and the rally was attended by thousands of people, many of whom posted their own pictures and videos of the event, which was also live streamed by dozens of news channels and attended by a slew of prominent politicians.

“Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport? There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST! She was turned in by a maintenance worker at the airport when he noticed the fake crowd picture, but there was nobody there, later confirmed by the reflection of the mirror like finish on the Vice Presidential Plane,” Trump wrote. “She’s a CHEATER. She had NOBODY waiting, and the ‘crowd’ looked like 10,000 people! Same thing is happening with her fake ‘crowds’ at her speeches. This is the way the Democrats win Elections, by CHEATING.”

According to local news outlet MLive, “about 15,000 people filled the hangar, the crowd spilling out onto the tarmac.”

While some AI-generated photos and videos have been circulated in right-wing corners of social media, it appears the photo Trump posted was in fact real, though it’s possible it was digitally edited. Other photos and videos from the event depict a similar scene and the fact-checking organization Snopes used AI-detection tools and determined it was “likely photographed by someone and not created using an AI-generation tool.”

Chris Strider, a video editor with the major Democratic super PAC Priorities USA and a former Biden campaign official, appears to be among the first people to have shared the photo on Wednesday Aug. 7, the day of the rally, at 10:01 p.m. EST. Strider did not immediately respond to questions from Spectrum News about whether he took the photo or found it elsewhere online.

“Look, we caught her with a fake ‘crowd.’ There was nobody there!” Trump wrote alongside the picture, adding in another post that “EVERYTHING ABOUT KAMALA IS FAKE!”

Trump went on an extended tirade about crowd sizes at a press conference on Thursday, complaining about media coverage of Harris’ rallies across the country alongside her new running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Trump claimed his 2017 inaugural address was attended by the “same number of people, if not, we had more” than Martin Luther King Jr. did during his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

“Donald Trump is definitely not mad. Do not say Donald Trump is mad,” Harris campaign director of rapid response Ammar Moussa wrote on Sunday, responding to Trump’s posts.