FACT CHECK: The truth behind ‘humiliated European leaders’ waiting to meet Trump at White House

US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is said to have paved the path for a potential summit between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, but it was the events on the sidelines that caught the world’s attention. From Zelenskyy's ‘military suit’ carefully picked by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coaching of Zelenskyy to prepare him for the  event, their focus was on what happened behind the scenes.

But it was an image of European leaders that went viral that set the tongues wagging. The image showed  European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, on chairs in a White House corridor waiting to meet the US President.

The picture was carried by Conservative handles on X. One post read: “President Trump has all the European leaders who accompanied Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to The White House today lined up outside the Oval Office like they're waiting to see the doctor!”

Another post read: “Humiliated and insulted in the White House corridor. Waiting for the master.”

However, the image was soon proved to be AI generated. Several fact-check websites, including ‘LeadStories’ deciphered it to be computer-generated, after uncovering glitches typical of AI-generated images.

A close look at the image revealed that Macron's shoes look different from each other, and an extra pair of legs/feet is between him and von der Leyen. The chandeliers also look different from each other, with one sprouting random crystals off to the side. A reverse search of the image also revealed that it was 99 per cent likely that the image was AI-generated or deepfake content.

 

World