Video of Trump threatening Putin is deepfake
The video was shared by a Telegram profile with a long history of posting deepfakes
CLAIM
A video emerged on the messaging platform Telegram on January 23 purported to show U.S. President Donald Trump sending a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling him to remember the deadly fate of well-known dictators.
BACKGROUND
U.S. President Donald Trump started his second term in office on January 20, vowing to end Russia’s war in Ukraine swiftly.
Before being elected, Trump said the war in Ukraine could have been prevented had he been in the White House in 2022, promising during his campaign trail to end the war within 24 hours of taking office.
On January 22, Trump took to his Truth Social site to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war”, threatening to impose new sanctions on Moscow.
“I’m not looking to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin”, Trump said.
“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries. Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with!”
A video purporting to show a recorded message from Trump to Putin emerged on Telegram’s messaging app on January 23, causing confusion and scepticism among platform users and some news outlets.
A Google Lens search of the video pointed to different social media platforms, including YouTube, X, Instagram and Facebook.
Some of the posts included a link to the Ukrainian Telegram channel BAZA, ce Hʼyuston (Base, this is Houston), which seemed to have been the first to post the video on January 23.
The first version of the video, published by BAZA on January 23, was marked with the logo and banners of the state television channel Russia-1, which allegedly broadcast it with Russian dubbing.
BAZA said in a comment accompanying the video, “Trump addressed Putin WITH THREATS! This has already been shown on Russian television. So we are waiting for the reaction, because it is really powerful! This is no longer a post on social networks, Donald is really throwing down with a flamethrower.”
Moments later, BAZA posted a “clean” version of the video, with no onscreen markers, saying, “Here is the original of Trump’s address. So that people don’t think it is a deepfake”.
The message conveyed in the video was the following, which includes profanity:
“Hey listen, I really think Putin is a strong leader, and I respect that, but he’s playing some fucked up games and these games always ends in a fucked up ways. We all remember how it ended for Saddam, for Ceausescu, and, of course, for Gadhafi. He got a fucking pipe shoved up his ass. That’s a nasty way to go, let me tell you. But that’s how it ends sometimes. So Vladimir, let’s not take it that far.”
Saddam Hussein was the president of Iraq and was executed by hanging after being convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal.
Nicolae Ceausescu was the ruler of Romania from 1965 until he was overthrown and killed during a revolution in 1989.
Muammar Gadhafi, the dictator who ruled Libya from 1969 to 2011, was brutally killed by rebel fighters.
Followers of this Telegram channel, knowing its reputation of posting artificially generated images, commented on the posts saying the video was a deepfake and joked about it.
“It would be awesome if he really came up with such trump cards”, one follower said. “For Ukrainians, this is entertainment content, for Russians, it’s the real truth”, another added.
BAZA describes itself on its Telegram profile as “Reacting to news with creative technologies 🇺🇦” and has a website that generates content using its own AI tools.
Its homepage states, “We make cool deepfaques”, and allows users to order custom deepfake videos.
According to media reports, the alleged Trump video never aired on Russian TV, and there are no records of such an address by the White House.
However, Ukrainian news outlet ZN.UA, which posted the video on Telegram reporting it to be real, later apologised for the mistake to its readers.
“This video was generated by AI. We are delighted with its quality and regret that we were not able to immediately recognize such a high-quality fake”, ZN.UA said.
“The editorial team apologizes to readers for the inaccurate information and hopes that the President of the United States, sooner or later, will record the same video address to the Russian dictator without the participation of artificial intelligence”, it added.
METHOD
How to spot a deepfake?
Deepfakes are images and audio edited or generated using artificial intelligence to depict people that appear real.
AI tools to generate images have become more powerful and realistic, making it more challenging to spot fabricated photos and videos, facilitating the spread of misinformation.
However, some details may suggest an image has been generated or edited by AI, notably nuances in facial expressions and portrayal of body parts and movement.
Below are some of the main aspects to analyse:
Unnatural facial expressions
Abnormal texture of the skin and hair (too smooth or grainy)
Soft or blurred effect around the face, hairline and neck
Irregular eye movements and blinking
A mismatch between lip movements and sounds
Stiff or jittery body movements
Inconsistent of body parts or dimensions
Shadows and reflections appear in places other than where they would be expected to be
All these subtle distortions may indicate digital tampering.
In the alleged Trump footage, the skin around his neck is pixelated and merging with the collar of his shirt, while the lines around his lips and teeth are also pixelated and blurred.
The mouth doesn’t fully close when certain letters are pronounced, with a slight mismatch between sound and lip movement.
The skin below his eyes, on his cheeks and chin, seems to twitch stiffly, and his neck jolts up unnaturally.
Other than the image, there is a lot of swearing in the speech, and the vocabulary in the message is vulgar, which is uncharacteristic of the overall tone of Trump’s usual addresses.
RATING
There were no reports in Russian or American media that Trump made that address to Putin.
The video, shared by a Telegram profile with a long history of posting deepfakes, shows many indicators of image manipulation.
The video is a deepfake.
SOURCES
Truth Social (January 22, 2025) – https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113872782548137314 [Accessed 31 Jan. 2025].
Telegram (January 23, 2025) BAZA https://t.me/baza_houston/4149 & https://t.me/baza_houston/4150 [Accessed 31 Jan. 2025].
BAZA, This is Houston – https://bazahouston.com.ua/ [Accessed 31 Jan. 2025].