A viral photo purports that European leaders recently camped outside the office of US President Donald Trump in the White House.
The photo shows French President Emmanuel Macron, Ursula Von der Leyen, president of the European Commission (EU), German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Mark Rutte, NATO secretary-general, were also captured in the picture.
The photo began circulating on Monday, just about when Trump was set to have a joint meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the European leaders.
“Meanwhile, outside the principal’s office,” an X user posted.
The tweet has grossed over two million views, 43,000 likes, 7,500 retweets, 1,800 bookmarks and 1,600 comments so far.
Adamu Garba, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), also posted the picture on his X page.
“All European leaders waiting earnestly to consult with their Lord President Trump. How the mighty Europe has fallen from their folly in Ukraine. What a lesson!” Garba tweeted to his 181,000 followers.
His tweet has amassed over 7,000 views, 83 likes, 36 comments, and 25 retweets.
VERIFICATION
Cable Check analysed the photograph and found inconsistencies typical of an altered picture.
Firstly, the photo quality varied across the accounts where it was posted.
A reverse image search brought up a higher quality version of the image and showed that it was posted on Sunday as a “prediction” of the meeting between the leaders.
No copy of the photo was released by the White House or published by reputable news websites.
Cable Check also noticed that the legs featured in the photo exceeded the number of leaders sitting. There were nine pairs of legs, while seven leaders were featured in the photo.
There were also three women seated as opposed to the attendance of only two —Von der Leyen and Meloni — at the meeting with Trump.
Cable Check also analysed the photo using Hive, an AI detection tool, which said it was 99.7% likely that the image contained AI-generated or deepfake content.
VERDICT
The photo showing European leaders sitting outside what was alleged to be Trump’s office is doctored.
